Digital Commons Network^™

Influence Of Trace Elements And Their Correlation With Semen Quality In Fertile And Infertile Subjects, Vickram Sundaram, Muthugadhalli Srinivas, Jayaraman Gurunathan, Kamini Rao, Ramesh Pathy Maniyan, Sridharan Balasundaram

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

There has been increasing curiosity about the appraisal of essential trace elements present in human body fluids and their correlation to human health. Human seminal plasma contains several trace elements that have an imperative role in the normal functioning of the semen. As a result, it is very important to evaluate Zn and other trace elements present in the seminal plasma for the assessment of male infertility. The main objective of this research is to evaluate Zn concentrations and their intercorrelations with semen parameters such as sperm concentration, sperm motility, and normal morphology of the sperm, towards their contribution to …

Notice And Consent In A World Of Big Data, Fred H. Cate, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

Articles by Maurer Faculty

• Nowadays individuals are often presented with long and complex privacy notices routinely written by lawyers for lawyers, and are then requested to either ‘consent’ or abandon the use of the desired service.
• The over-use of notice and consent presents increasing challenges in an age of ‘Big Data’.
• These phenomena are receiving attention particularly in the context of the current review of the OECD Privacy Guidelines.
• In 2012 Microsoft sponsored an initiative designed to engage leading regulators, industry executives, public interest advocates, and academic experts in frank discussions about the role of individual control and notice and consent in data protection …

Student Perceptions Of Digital Storytelling As A Learning-Tool For Educational Leaders, Jason Lafrance, Jason Blizzard

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

: A study regarding students’ perceptions of digital storytelling as a learning tool was conducted in the fall of 2012. The population consisted of 12 students participating in an Administrative Theory course as part of their doctoral program in K-12 or higher education administration at a Carnegie Doctoral Research University in Georgia. During the eight-week course, students created digital stories that synthesized an autoethnography with leadership theory using Bolman and Deal’s (2011) four-framework approach to leadership. This allowed students to demonstrate the practice of continual reflection and assessment, a commitment to technology, diversity, and in-depth understanding of the knowledge and …

Some Legal Considerations For E.U. Based Mnes Contemplating High-Risk Foreign Direct Investments In The Energy Sector After Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum And Chevron Corporation V. Naranjo, Jeffrey A. Van Detta

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

No abstract provided.

The Sex Selection Debate: A Comparative Study Of Sex Selection Laws In The United States And The United Kingdom, Deidre C. Webb

South Carolina Journal of International Law and Business

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Thinning Intensity On The Growth Of Narrow-Leaved Ash (Fraxinus Angustifolia Subsp. Oxycarpa) Plantations, Emrah Çi̇çek, Faruk Yilmaz, Ali̇ Kemal Özbayram, Mehmet Efe, Murat Yilmaz, Ayhan Usta

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) is one of the important broadleaved tree species, and it is becoming more important in European forestry because of its valuable wood and fast growing ability. Despite its wide natural range and high economic value, there is little or very limited information about the effects of thinning on the growth and development of ash stands, especially in plantations. In this study, 2 thinning experiments were carried out to determine the effects of thinning intensity on the growth of diameter, height, basal area, and volume in narrow-leaved ash plantations over a 6-year period in Adapazarı, Turkey. In …

Preserving Nature To Preserve The Republic: Laurens Bolles, A Conservationist In Cold War New Mexico, Erik Loomis

New Mexico Historical Review

No abstract provided.

“Follow The Leader”: A Centrality Guided Clustering And Its Application To Social Network Analysis, Qin Wu, Xingqin Qi, Eddie Fuller, Cun-Quan Zhang

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Within graph theory and network analysis, centrality of a vertex measures the relative importance of a vertex within a graph. The centrality plays key role in network analysis and has been widely studied using different methods. Inspired by the idea of vertex centrality, a novel centrality guided clustering (CGC) is proposed in this paper. Different from traditional clustering methods which usually choose the initial center of a cluster randomly, the CGC clustering algorithm starts from a “LEADER”—a vertex with the highest centrality score—and a new “member” is added into the same cluster as the “LEADER” when some criterion is satisfied. …

Playing Politics With Rape: Republican Apologia In The 2012 Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization, Kelsey Deforest

Undergraduate Research Awards

"During the second half of 2012, heightened scrutiny was applied to Republican politicians’ discussion of sexual assault. This wave of interrogation, though, began too late to affect the debates over the 2012 Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization. This paper will problematize these debates by analyzing the rhetoric of self-defense used by Republican legislators in the House of Representatives to defend their VAWA Reauthorization bill. By applying a feminist critical discourse analysis to the final VAWA Reauthorization debate held on May 16, 2012, this paper shows that the actions of the Republican legislators are rooted in a desire to protect the …

The Awakening Of Knowledge In The Heart Of Egypt: An Exegesis Of Exodus 7:1-5, Andrew Krawtz

Global Tides

Exodus 7:1-5 is the fourth reiteration of God’s commands to Moses regarding Pharaoh and the Israelites, with the others being in Exod 3, 4:21-23, and 6:1-13. With these passages and the resulting plagues, readers have raised questions regarding God’s powerfulness and good nature. For example, if God is all-powerful and good, why does he not just liberate the Israelites immediately, instead of dragging it out through ten plagues while manipulating Pharaoh, seemingly exacerbating the general suffering of people and land? My proposed answer to these concerns lies in the focus of this passage, which is God’s relationship with the Egyptians. …

Partner Preferences And Selection At Pepperdine University, Katie Pietraszak, Max Mowrer

Global Tides

This study investigates undergraduate students’ partner preferences and selection at Pepperdine University by examining the traits desired of those seeking a potential partner and the expectations one has for them. Results from the survey responses support previous research in this area and indicate males’ preference for dominant feminine traits, including physical attractiveness, and females’ preference for dominant masculine traits, such as high earning potential. While the majority of males and females desired a more egalitarian relationship, males were more likely to want their partners to be a follower and females were more likely to desire their partners to assume the …

The Naprapath In The Rainforest, John D. Blum

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Inter-Agency Coordination: The Key To Successfully Transition Juvenile Offenders Back Into The Educational Mainstream, Robyn Beth Gordon

Dissertations

The focus of this study was to determine the characteristics of successful re-entry programs for youth as they transition back into the educational mainstream. The study was also used to determine the implementation needed for effective inter-agency coordination of social service systems for students to successfully transition into the educational setting. The NCLB accountability measures were reviewed to discover how the measures influenced educators and created a reluctance to accept delinquent youth when they re-enter public school. The three overarching questions addressed in this study were: What inter-agency involvement is necessary in implementing a successful re-entry program? What are the …

What Price Liberty: The Search For Equality For Kinship-Caregiving Families, Sacha M. Coupet

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Forward Special Edition: “Innovations In Public Health Law: Exploring New Strategies”, Lawrence E. Singer

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Intuition In Nursing Practice And Education, Cassandra L. Yagen

Honors Capstones

A review of nursing literature on the topic o f intuition use within nursing practice and education was completed. Four main themes emerged throughout the research. The four themes include 1) definition, 2) validity, 3) experience, and 4) inner voice. The need for further research was established, as intuition is not yet universally accepted as a legitimate piece of nursing practice. Literature collected dates back to over 20 years ago, and when compared to the current nursing literature, many of the same themes still exist. Though progress in formalizing intuition within the nursing profession has been made, there is still …

Genomics Of A Metamorphic Timing Qt:: Met1 Maps To A Unique Genomic Position And Regulates Morph And Species-Specific Patterns Of Brain Transcription, Robert B. Page, M. A. Borley, D. K. Kump, S. R. Voss

Biology Faculty Publications (Archived)

Very little is known about genetic factors that regulate life history transitions during ontogeny. Closely related tiger salamanders (Ambystoma species complex) show extreme variation in metamorphic timing, with some species foregoing metamorphosis altogether, an adaptive trait called paedomorphosis. Previous studies identified a major effect quantitative trait locus (met1) for metamorphic timing and expression of paedomorphosis in hybrid crosses between the biphasic Eastern tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum) and the paedomorphic Mexican axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum).We used existing hybrid mapping panels and a newly created hybrid cross to map the met1 genomic region and determine the effect of met1 on larval growth, …

Do Cryoconite Holes Have The Potential To Be Significant Sources Of C, N, And P To Downstream Depauperate Ecosystems Of Taylor Valley, Antarctica?, Elizabeth A. Bagshaw, Martyn Tranter, Andrew G. Fountain, Kathleen A. Welch, Hassan J. Basagic, W. Berry Lyons

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nutrient recycling occurs in hydrologically isolated cryoconite holes on the glaciers of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Biogeochemical processes enrich the cryoconite holes with solute and nutrients compared to the source sediment and glacier ice. The position of the glacier within the landscape affects the physical and biogeochemical character of the cryoconite holes, with those found in more biologically productive areas of the valley having higher concentrations of C, N, and P and higher pH. Comprehensive assessment of the quality and quantity of bioavailable C, N, and P shows that the cryoconite holes represent a significant store of nutrient in …

Impacts Of Predicted Global Sea-Level Rise On Oregon Beaches And Tidelands, Curt D. Peterson

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Forward by:

Phillip Johnson, Executive Director Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition

The Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition’s "Coastal Climate Change Adaptation Project" is under development as an experiment in grassroots organizing for adaptive planning for expected climate change impacts. Oregon Shores is a regional conservation group with a 40-year history of working to protect marine, shoreline, estuarine and other coastal habitats. The organization’s board and staff came to recognize that the likely effects of climate change—rising sea levels, more intensive storm surges, increased erosion, lower-river flooding, among others—would affect every aspect of the group’s work. Consequently, a new program, the Climate Action …

Partnering In Tough Times: Service-Learning For Economic Vitality, Julie Plaut, Christine M. Cress, Elaine Kimiko Ikeda, Piper Mcginley

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper focuses on the results and lessons of the CARE initiative. With support from the Learn and Serve America program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, six California universities—California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; California State University, Fresno; Humboldt State University; San Francisco State University; University of California, Berkeley; and University of San Diego—received two-year grants to serve as lead institutions with CARE. Each developed service and service-learning projects themselves and engaged other colleges and universities in their local area in related efforts. Together these campuses collaborated with more than 300 community organizations, 105 of which …

Essays On Rethinking African Development: Contextual And Methodological Advances, Olumayokun Soremekun

2013

This research study sets out to provide analytical answers to the questions of African development and inequality. We examine various aspects of development from the issue of inequality among African countries to unravelling the synergies among the MDG goals and finally to investigating the progress if any that African countries have made towards attaining the MDG goals.

This research is broken down into three main studies: measuring inequality of opportunity, examining the synergies between the Millennium development goals at a particular point in time and lastly assessing the progress that has been made towards attaining the MDG goals in Africa. …

The Use Of Complexity Theory And Strange Attractors To Understand And Explain Information System Development, Arthur P. Tomasino

2013

In spite of the best efforts of researchers and practitioners, Information Systems (IS) developers are having problems "getting it right". IS developments are challenged by the emergence of unanticipated IS characteristics undermining managers ability to predict and manage IS change. Because IS are complex, development formulas, best practices or development guides simply will not work. The difficulties in these system developments stem from the complexity of IS arising from the inter-relationship, interaction, and interconnectivity of the elements in the system and its environment. This research uses complexity concepts to help solve the problem with IS development and explain why so …

Conical Intersection And Potential Energy Surface Features Of A Model Retinal Chromophore: Comparison Of Eom-Cc And Multireference Methods, Samer Gozem, Anna I. Krylov, Massimo Olivucci

Chemistry Faculty Publications

This work investigates the performance of equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) methods for describing the changes in the potential energy surfaces of the penta-2,4-dieniminium cation, a reduced model of the retinal chromophore of visual pigments, due to dynamical electron correlation effects. The ground-state wave function of this model includes charge-transfer and diradical configurations whose weights vary along different displacements and are rapidly changing at the conical intersection between the ground and the first excited states, making the shape of the potential energy surface sensitive to a balanced description of nondynamical and dynamical correlation. Recently, variational (MRCISD) and perturbative (MRPT2) approaches for including …

A New Method For Identifying Stem-Like Cells In Esophageal Cancer Cell Lines, Michael Eric Geusz, Taghreed N. Almanaa, Roudabeh J. Jamasbi

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) appear to resist chemo-radiotherapy and initiate tumor recurrence in patients. Isolation and further characterization of this subpopulation is important for targeting CSCs. Flow cytometry using Aldefluor, a fluorescent substrate of aldehyde dehydrogenase, has been used to isolate CSCs from various cancer cell lines. However, newtechniques are needed to locate and identify CSCs in culture for live-cell analyses such as fluorescence microscopy without introducing artifacts during cell sorting and to observe CSC and non-CSC interactions. Previously, we characterized a distinct CSC subpopulation within human esophageal cancer cell lines (ESCC). In this study we introduce the attached-cell Aldefluor …

2013 Bethsaida Field Report, Rami Arav, Kate Raphael, Carl Savage, Nicolae Roddy, Toni Fisher, Gregory C. Jenks

Field Reports

The 2013 excavation season at Bethsaida took place between May 21 and June 28. About 120 faculty, students and volunteers participated in the excavation. The expedition was housed for the first two weeks at Kibbutz Hukok and four weeks at Kibbutz Ginosar. We are very grateful for the extraordinary hospitality that we have had in the two places.

Factors Affecting The Retention Of First-Career And Second-Career Science Teachers In Urban High Schools, Rosemary C. Rak

Educational Studies Dissertations

The turnover of high school science teachers is an especially troubling problem in urban schools with economically disadvantaged students. Because high teacher turnover rates impede effective instruction, the persistence of teacher attrition is a serious concern. Using an online survey and interviews in a sequential mixed-methods approach, this study investigates the perceptions of high school science teachers regarding factors that contribute to their employment decisions. The study also compares first-career and second-career science teachers' perceptions of retention and attrition factors and identifies conditions that urban school leaders can establish to support the retention of their science teachers. A purposeful sample …

The Social Intelligence Of Principals: Links To Teachers' Continuous Improvement, Joan Mcquade

Educational Studies Dissertations

Despite multiple efforts to reform 21st education to better meet the needs of all students, school improvement successes have been sporadic and debatable. Research suggests that significant improvement lies within the purview of teachers and principals, and this current research provided the underpinnings for the study. Based on neuroscience research and the continuous improvement concept, I examined linkages between principals' social intelligence and teachers' continuous improvement. Using a mixed method sequential explanatory research approach, the study consisted of four phases that employed both quantitative and qualitative measures. Massachusetts' principals (127) and teachers (331) were contacted by email to participate in …

Evaluating The Phonology Of Nicaraguan Sign Language: Preprimer And Primer Dolch Words, Julie Delkamiller

Special Education and Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Over the past 30-years linguists have been witnessing the birth and evolution of a language, Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua (ISN), in Nicaragua, and have initiated and documented the syntax and grammar of this new language. Research is only beginning to emerge on the implications of ISN on the education of deaf/hard of hearing children in Nicaragua. The purpose of this comparative exploratory field study was to evaluate preprimer and primer Dolch sight words and sign language frequency between English, American Sign Language (ASL), Spanish and Idioma de Señas de Nicaragua (ISN). The research focused on word and sign frequencies …

Enacting Privacy Rules And Protecting Disclosure Recipients: Parents’ Communication With Children Following The Death Of A Family Member, Paige W. Toller, M. Chad Mcbride

Communication Faculty Publications

Given the probability that the death of a family member will occur before a child has reached adulthood, the purpose of this project was to understand what motivates parents to either talk or not talk about a loved one's death with their children. Using Communication Privacy Management to inductively analyze interviews, we found parents were motivated to talk to their children about death because they wanted their children to be informed. This is reflected in the first primary theme, Recalibrating Family of Origin Privacy Orientation Rules: Motivations for Revealing. Two secondary themes further explained parents' motivations to reveal: death as …

Characterization Of The Asian Citrus Psyllid Transcriptome, Justin Reese, Matthew K. Christenson, Nan Leng, Surya Saha, Brandi Cantarel, Magdalen Lindeberg, Cecilia Tamborindeguy, Justin Maccarthy, Andrew J. Trease, Steven V. Ready, Vincent M. David, Courtney Mccormick, Christian Haudenschild, Shunsheng Han, Shannon L. Johnson, Kent S. Shelby, Hong Huang, Blake R. Bextine, Robert G. Shatters, David G. Hall, Paul H. Davis, Wayne B. Hunter

Biology Faculty Publications

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) is a vector for the causative agents of Huanglongbing, which threatens citrus production worldwide. This study reports and discusses the first D. citri transcriptomes, encompassing the three main life stages of D. citri, egg, nymph and adult. The transcriptomes were annotated using Gene Ontology (GO) and insecticide-related genes within each life stage were identified to aid the development of future D. citri insecticides. Transcriptome assemblies and other sequence data are available for download at the International Asian Citrus Psyllid Genome Consortium website [http://psyllid.org/download] and at NCBI [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/29447].