Digital Commons Network^™

Design And Analysis Of New Printed Wideband Antennas For Wireless Applications, Koby Asirvatham

Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this study a simple method to develop a wideband antenna is proposed. With this new technique a dipole antenna with a 48% frequency bandwidth is transformed to achieve a 120% frequency bandwidth for a voltage standing-wave ratio ≤ 2. Two different designs are tested and their performance is compared: the segmented-ring antenna and the split-ring antenna. Both antennas achieved a stable radiation pattern and a moderate gain. Nearly omnidirectional radiation patterns have been observed in both the XZ and YZ-planes. Finally, simple passive arrays are presented, demonstrating the usefulness of the split-ring antenna as an array element. Beam steering …

Content Dissemination Schemes For Mobile Clouds: Modeling, Analysis, And Verification, Ankan Ghosh

Electrical and Computer Engineering

In this work, we capitalize on our previous work on the Hybrid Scheme for Message Replication (HSM) for opportunistic networks, to develop two content dissemination schemes for mobile clouds, namely, the Forecast and Relay (FAR) and Utility-Based Scheme (UBS). Simulation results with synthetic mobility models validate that the proposed schemes outperform existing routing strategies, such as the PRoPHET, Epidemic, Random, and Wave. We have exploited High-Level Petri Nets to model and analyze the communication processes encompassing HSM, FAR, and UBS. The UBS has been conceived to overcome a crucial design limitation of HSM and FAR, made evident through formal analysis. …

In Vitro Enrichment Of Phosphorylated Proteins From Synchronously Excysted Cryptosporidium Parvum, Ruchi Joshi

Environmental and Conservation Sciences

Cryptosporidium is an enteric protozoan parasite that causes cryptosporidiosis and there is no effective drug treatment available. Two studies were conducted. In the first, a novel protocol was developed for the rapid in vitro excystation of Cryptosporidium parvum. Rapid excystation (release of infectious sporozoites from the environmental oocyst stage) is necessary to study molecular dynamics during the early stages of Cryptosporidium development. The developed excystation assay (Joshi assay) used an HCl (pH 2.5) oocyst pretreatment instead of the bleach pretreatment that is more frequently used in excystation assays. The Joshi assay achieved >90% excystation in 10 min. This rapid, reproducible, …

The Use Of Communication Strategies To Influence Stakeholders To Implement Food Safety Management Systems In Small Custom-Exempt Meal Plants, Shalindra Suresh Rathnasinghe

Food Safety

This exploratory study used interviews to understand the culture and communication patterns of the stakeholders, employers, and employees. Interviews revealed that the topic of Food Safety was a very sensitive one as many were reluctant to share information. The study found that direct informal communication strategies are the best method to communicate custom-exempt meat plants. These communication strategies can be used to influence food safety practices.

The Girl, The Film, And The Wardrobe: A Study Of Texts, Tension, And Approachability In Punk Clothing And The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo, Gina Kruschek

English

The present study investigates how the modern re-authoring of Punk clothing styles through the character of Lisbeth Salander in Steig Larsson’s novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, its American film adaptation, and the subsequent H&M Dragon Tattoo collection works rhetorically within fiction and reality. A close reading of the novel and hybrid semiotic analysis of the film reveal a problematic characterization of Salander that overshadows the overwhelmingly positive response to her character from readers and viewers of the film. Conclusions from a rhetorical analysis of the original H&M press release and five articles that reported on the announcement, and …

Empowering Spaces: A Student Initiative In Language Acquisition, Jade William Sandbulte

English

A major concern for many international students is improving their spoken English, which requires engaged interaction with other speakers in a comfortable environment. This exploratory study analyzes a student-run language acquisition program to determine the extent to which it provides an empowering space for non-native speakers of English through its cultural presentations and small-group conversations. By using recorded conversations at the meetings, interviews, and surveys, this study found that the native English speakers often focused more on sustaining the conversations than providing opportunities to learn. Several strategies were noted that either encouraged or limited the engagement of non-native speakers of …

Writing (Dirty) New Media: Technorhetorical Opacity, Chimeras, And Dirty Ontology, Steven Reginald Hammer

English

There is little doubt that emerging technologies are changing the way we act, interact, create, and consume. Yet despite increased access to these technologies, consumers of technology too seldom interrogate the politics, subjectivities, and limitations of these technologies and their interfaces. Instead, many consumers approach emerging technologies as objective tools to be consumed, and engage in creative processes uncritically. This disquisition, following the work of Hawisher, Selfe, and Selfe, seeks ways to approach the problem of a “rhetoric of technology” that uncritically praises new technologies by drawing on avant-garde art traditions and object-oriented ontology. I argue that, by following the …

Inclusive Peer Review Activities In College Writing Classes: Autistic Students' Perspectives And Ways Of Participating, Cody Michael Kaser

English

To date, no composition research exists involving autistic college students and peer review. The literature regarding autism suggests that autistic students are likely to experience, value, and participate in peer review differently than nonautistic students. The study compared survey responses from an experimental group, autistic students, and a demographic comparison group, nonautistic students. The data suggests that autistic and nonautistic participants experience, value, and participate in peer response activities in many similar ways, with some general and specific differences supported by autism research. Generally, fewer autistic participants indicated positive experiences of peer review than nonautistic students. Minor differences in the …

Immigration And Cooperative Federalism: Toward A Doctrinal Framework, Ming Hsu Chen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Startup Lawyers At The Outskirts, Abraham Cable

Faculty Scholarship

Startup lawyering is a distinctive style of law practice first observed in Silicon Valley decades ago. Like other business lawyers, startup lawyers form entities, protect intellectual property rights, and document financing transactions for clients starting new businesses. But startup lawyers also encourage entrepreneurship more broadly by promoting Silicon Valley’s practices and conventions, such as standard contract terms that streamline negotiations with venture capital investors.

Today, startup lawyers practice not only in established entrepreneurial centers such as Silicon Valley or Boston, but also in the shadow of economic development efforts to promote entrepreneurship. In this new context, startup lawyering is susceptible …

Mad Money: Rethinking Private Placements, Abraham Cable

Faculty Scholarship

Currently, regulations try to limit unregistered sales of stock (private placements) to the “smart money,” either by informing investors through disclosure or excluding unsophisticated investors from the market. In theory, these smart-money approaches promote the dual goals of capital formation and investor protection. But in practice, regulators have struggled to craft effective disclosure or screening mechanisms. In light of these failures, this Article advocates for a new approach—investment caps that allow every investor a limited amount of “mad money” to invest in risky private placements. This mad-money approach can protect investors by encouraging basic diversification and liquidity, while advancing capital …

The Tower Of Babel: Human Rights And The Paradox Of Language, Moria Paz

Faculty Scholarship

Key human rights instruments and leading scholars argue that minority language rights should be treated as human rights, both because language is constitutive of an individual’s cultural identity and because linguistic pluralism increases diversity. These treaties and academics assign the value of linguistic pluralism in diversity. But, as this article demonstrates, major human rights courts and quasi-judicial institutions are not, in fact, prepared to force states to swallow the dramatic costs entailed by a true diversity-protecting regime. Outside narrow exceptions or a path dependent nationalpolitical compromise, these enforcement bodies continuously allow the state actively to incentivize assimilation into the dominant …

The Hobby Lobby Moment The Supreme Court - 2013 Term: Comments, Paul Horwitz

Articles

No abstract provided.

Alabama's Mirror: The People's Crusade For Civil Rights Introduction, Steven H. Hobbs

Articles

No abstract provided.

Language Rights As A Legacy Of The Civil Rights Act Of 1964, Ming Hsu Chen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Unbundling In The New Legal Marketplace, Pamela Bucy Pierson

Articles

No abstract provided.

Addressing Racial And Hate-Based Discrimination As Experienced By African Immigrants And Refugees In Waterloo Region, Canada, Alicja K. Muszynski, Sadia Gassim

Journal of Hate Studies

Since the early 1990s, the demographics of Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) have changed dramatically. Early settlement patterns reflected “chain migrations” of Mennonite farm families moving to the region from Pennsylvania. Subsequent establishment of three urban clusters with German and British roots resulted in a predominantly White regional and Canadian population. A relaxation of Canadian immigration legislation, together with political unrest in many African countries, led to African immigrants and refugees choosing to settle in the Tri-Cities of Waterloo, Kitchener, and Cambridge. Canada has an international reputation as a welcoming country that celebrates diversity. However, the public view that multiculturalism is …

Misogyny And Marginalization In Criminal Justice Systems: Women’S Experiences In Two Post-Conflict Societies, Erin Tunney

Journal of Hate Studies

In Northern Ireland and South Africa, two countries that are attempting to rebuild their societies after extended periods of armed conflict, women who seek redress from gender-based violence through the criminal justice system encounter barriers to justice. Such barriers emerge from misogynistic attitudes toward women that prevent police from appropriately responding to reports of sexual and domestic violence, diminish the capacity of police and court officials to empathize with rather than blame victims, and impede judges from sentencing convicted perpetrators in proportion to their crimes. Despite the striking differences between these two countries, in each society women face similar patterns …

Qualified Doctor And Medical Students' Use Of Resources For Accessing Information: What Is Used And Why?, Nicola Brennan, Sarah Edwards, Narcie Kelly, Alice Miller, Lucy Harrower, Karen Mattick

Peninsula Medical School

BACKGROUND: Learning to access information using resources such as books and search engines is an important and fast changing challenge for doctors and medical students. Many resources exist to support evidence-based clinical decision-making, but a wide range of factors influences their use. OBJECTIVE: To explore qualified doctor and medical students' use of resources for accessing information and to determine what is used and why. METHODS: A stratified sample of 46 participants was recruited in Devon, UK. Participants kept a self-report diary of resources used over a week. The diaries were then used to stimulate recall within a semi-structured interview. Diary …

Utterance-Final Lengthening Is Predictive Of Infants' Discrimination Of English Accents, Laurence White, Caroline Floccia, Jeremy Goslin, Joseph Butler

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Relationship Between Eating Disorder Psychopathology And Autistic Traits In A Non-Clinical Adult Population, Amelia Myri Carton, Alastair D. Smith

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Application Of Research-Based Guidance To The Design Of An Emergency Preparedness Leaflet., E. Hellier, J. Edworthy, L. Newbold, K. Titchener, M. Tucker, E. Gabe-Thomas

School of Psychology

UNLABELLED: Guidelines for the design of emergency communications were derived from primary research and interrogation of the literature. The guidelines were used to re-design a nuclear emergency preparedness leaflet routinely distributed to households in the local area. Pre-test measures of memory for, and self-reported understanding of, nuclear safety information were collected. The findings revealed high levels of non-receipt of the leaflet, and among those who did receive it, memory for safety advice was poor. Subjective evaluations of the trial leaflet suggested that it was preferred and judged easier to understand than the original. Objective measures of memory for the two …

Perceptions Of Time In Relation To Climate Change, S Pahl, S Sheppard, C Boomsma, C Groves

School of Psychology

No abstract provided.

Development Of Sampling Efficiency And Internal Noise In Motion Detection And Discrimination In School-Aged Children, Hk Falkenberg, Wa Simpson, Gn Dutton

School of Psychology

The aim of this study was to use an equivalent noise (EN) to investigate the development and maturation of motion perception, and how the underlying limitations of sampling efficiency and internal noise effect motion detection and direction discrimination in school-aged children (5-14 years) and adults. Contrast energy thresholds of a 2 c/deg sinusoidal grating drifting at 1.0 or 6.0 Hz were measured as a function of added dynamic noise in three tasks: detection of a drifting grating; detection of the sum of two oppositely drifting gratings and direction discrimination of oppositely drifting gratings. Compared to the ideal observer, in both …

When Do I Wear Me Out? Mental Simulation And The Diminution Of Self-Control., Cn Macrae, Bm Christian, M Golubickis, M Karanasiou, Et Al

School of Psychology

Exerting self-control can diminish people's capacity to engage in subsequent acts of behavioral regulation, a phenomenon termed ego depletion. But what of imaginary regulatory experiences-does simulated restraint elicit comparable lapses in self-control? Here we demonstrate such effects under theoretically tractable imagery conditions. Across 3 experiments, temporal, structural, and spatial components of mental simulation were observed to drive the efficacy of imaginary self-control. In Experiment 1, lapses in restraint (i.e., financial impulsivity) were more pronounced when imaginary regulation (i.e., dietary restraint) focused on an event in the near versus distant future. In Experiment 2, comparable effects (i.e., increased stereotyping) emerged when …

Oculometric Variations During Mind Wandering, R Grandchamp, C Braboszcz, A Delorme

School of Psychology

A significant body of literature supports the contention that pupil size varies depending on cognitive load, affective state, and level of drowsiness. Here we assessed whether oculometric measures such as gaze position, blink frequency and pupil size were correlated with the occurrence and time course of self-reported mind-wandering episodes. We recorded the pupil size of two subjects engaged in a monotonous breath counting task while keeping their eyes on a fixation cross. This task is conducive to producing mind-wandering episodes. Each subject performed ten 20-min sessions, for total duration of about 4 h. Subjects were instructed to report spontaneous mind-wandering …

Online Identity And Interaction, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The increasing interest in developing online learning communities and communities of practice (COP) has generated the exploration into issues of identity that impact online communication.

Supporting Diverse Online Learners, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Learner support is the critical link in online education. A learner support system is comprised of human and non-human resources that contribute to the learning process of an online course and should be designed as an integral part of the course. For example, if the online course requires students to access library resources to complete a research paper, then, easy access to library resources must be provided as part of the learner support system for that course. Learner support for online learners will differ based on the context, learner characteristics such as needs, expectations, prior learning experiences, etc., and the …

Executive Mba Students’ Information Skills And Knowledge: Discovering The Difference Between Work And Academics, Todd Quinn, Lora Leligdon

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This study explores Executive MBA students’ information seeking skills and knowledge in academic and workplace environments in order to improve on library instruction. Our research consisted of a survey and 12 qualitative interviews, sampled from two University of New Mexico EMBA cohorts. The themes that emerged included: EMBA’s specific skills and knowledge of their own industry’s information, difficulty in finding new information, several barriers, and lack of transferability. By discussing adult learning theory and focusing on transferability, we can help students acknowledge and transfer their information skills and knowledge between academics and work.