Digital Commons Network^™

Measuring The Environmental Cost Of Hypocrisy, Arthur J. Caplan, Charles Sims, Elliot Jordan Anderson

Applied Economics Faculty Publications

This paper provides an example of how to estimate the marginal environmental cost of hypocrisy using revealed-behavior and self-identification survey responses from coffee drinkers regarding their use of cardboard and plastic (i.e., non-reusable) cups. Coffee shops provide a convenient microcosm for assessing the impact of hypocritical behavior because of (1) readily available, cheap substitutes (i.e., reusable coffee cups), (2) a relatively accurate estimate of the environmental (in particular, carbon) cost associated with using non-reusable cups, and (3) the ability to delineate hypocritical behavior by observing a choice with relatively few potential confounding factors. Hypocritical behavior is measured as a geometric …

Faculty Notes - John Carroll University, John Carroll University

Faculty Notes - John Carroll University

December 2014, Volume 7, Issue 4

The Ethics Of Animal Research: A Survey Of Pediatric Health Care Workers, Ari Joffe, Meredith Bara, Natalie Anton, Nathan Nobis

Experimentation Collection

Introduction: Pediatric health care workers (HCW) often perform, promote, and advocate use of public funds for animal research (AR). We aim to determine whether HCW consider common arguments (and counterarguments) in support (or not) of AR convincing.

Design: After development and validation, an e-mail survey was sent to all pediatricians and pediatric intensive care unit nurses and respiratory therapists (RTs) affiliated with a Canadian University. We presented questions about demographics, support for AR, and common arguments (with their counterarguments) to justify the moral permissibility (or not) of AR. Responses are reported using standard tabulations. Responses of pediatricians and nurses/RTs were …

December 2014, Issue 6, James Madison University Uhc Marketing Team

Potty Mouth

No abstract provided.

Analysis And Improvement Of The Security Building At Pg&E Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Alyssa Carter, Natalie Christa, Phuong Anh Pham Dinh

Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

A new Security building was recently designed and built at the Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP).This building’s staff and equipment are responsible for performing routine inspections on all personnel entering the facility in order to prevent security-related incidents from occurring at the nuclear power plant. Similar to airport security procedures, the DCPP security building routine inspections include the use of x-ray machines, metal detectors, and explosive detectors.

The Power Plant periodically experiences pre-planned, preventive maintenance outages, that last 4-6 weeks. During an outage, a power plant reactor is shut down for maintenance, repair, and re-fueling. …

A Cross Comparison Of Spatiotemporally Enhanced Springtime Phenological Measurements From Satellites And Ground In A Northern U.S. Mixed Forest, Liang Liang, Mark D. Schwartz, Zhuosen Wang, Feng Gao, Crystal B. Schaaf, Bin Tan, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Xiaoyang Zhang

GSCE Faculty Publications

Cross comparison of satellite-derived land surface phenology (LSP) and ground measurements is useful to ensure the relevance of detected seasonal vegetation change to the underlying biophysical processes. While standard 16-day and 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation index (VI)-based springtime LSP has been evaluated in previous studies, it remains unclear whether LSP with enhanced temporal and spatial resolutions can capture additional details of ground phenology. In this paper, we compared LSP derived from 500-m daily MODIS and 30-m MODIS-Landsat fused VI data with landscape phenology (LP) in a northern U.S. mixed forest. LP was previously developed from intensively observed …

Pacific Plug & Liner Crop Shrinkage Evaluation, Jillian Balli

Horticulture and Crop Science

Crop Shrinkage has a major impact on a company’s bottom line. There are many ways to combat shrinkage. This report focuses on shrinkage reduction by adjusting buffer planting numbers to reflect the actual number of plants lost in production. Inaccurate buffer can cause the cost of production to be inaccurate as well. This report evaluates crop shrinkage of a greenhouse located in Watsonville, CA called Pacific Plug & Liner.

Viewing The Moon In Infrared, Kyle Beekman

Statistics

Man has been fascinated by the heavens since ancient times, yet there is still so much that we don’t know. This project was created by Dr. Gary Hughes with goal of obtaining information about the moon and other objects in the vicinity of the Earth. The project was mostly experimental in nature and there was no specific goal at the outset of the project. In the end the project focused on the moon and meteors that traveled through the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Throughout the month of August, students traveled to the Mount Barcroft Research Station in the Eastern Sierras to …

Angiogenic, Neurotrophic, And Inflammatory System Snps Moderate The Association Between Birth Weight And Adhd Symptom Severity, Taylor F. Smith, Arthur D. Anastopoulos, Melanie E. Garrett, Alejandro Arias-Vasquez, Barbara Franke, Robert D. Oades, Edmund Sonuga-Barke, Philip Asherson, Michael Gill, Jan K. Buitelaar, Joseph A. Sergeant, Scott H. Kollins, Stephen V. Faraone, Allison Ashley-Koch, Image Consortium

Psychology and Child Development

Low birth weight is associated with increased risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); however, the etiological underpinnings of this relationship remain unclear. This study investigated if genetic variants in angiogenic, dopaminergic, neurotrophic, kynurenine, and cytokine-related biological pathways moderate the relationship between birth weight and ADHD symptom severity. A total of 398 youth from two multi-site, family-based studies of ADHD were included in the analysis. The sample consisted of 360 ADHD probands, 21 affected siblings, and 17 unaffected siblings. A set of 164 SNPs from 31 candidate genes, representing five biological pathways, were included in our analyses. Birth weight and gestational age …

Paradise Found? Food Transportation Regulation: A Detour Through Regulatory Purgatory, William Nash

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On January 31, 2014, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") that would set requirements for shippers, carriers and receivers of food transported in intrastate and interstate commerce. The NPRM marks a potentially important step in a long history of the (non-)regulation of food transportation. In Parts I and II, this paper will provide some context of the history of food transportation, as well as the major incidents that placed the food transportation industry on the regulatory map. In Parts III and IV, the paper will consider the history of food transportation regulation from …

Straddling The Columbia: A Constitutional Law Professor's Musings On Circumventing Washington State's Criminal Prohibition On Compensated Surrogacy, Peter Nicolas

Washington Law Review

In this Article, I recount—through both the prisms of an intended parent and a constitutional law scholar—my successful efforts to become a parent via compensated surrogacy and egg donation. Part I of this Article provides a narrative of my experience in becoming a parent via compensated surrogacy, and the various state and federal legal roadblocks and deterrents that I encountered along the way, including Washington State’s criminal prohibition on compensated surrogacy as well as federal guidelines issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of sperm by gay donors in the process of in vitro fertilization. Part …

Physiological Effects And Therapeutic Potential Of Proinsulin C-Peptide, Gina L.C. Yosten, Christine Maric-Bilkan, Patrizia Luppi, John Wahren

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Connecting Peptide, or C-peptide, is a product of the insulin prohormone, and is released with and in amounts equimolar to those of insulin. While it was once thought that C-peptide was biologically inert and had little biological significance beyond its role in the proper folding of insulin, it is now known that C-peptide binds specifically to the cell membranes of a variety of tissues and initiates specific intracellular signaling cascades that are pertussis toxin sensitive. Although it is now clear that C-peptide is a biologically active molecule, controversy still remains as to the physiological significance of the peptide. Interestingly, C-peptide …

The Cadet Training Program Versus The Student Certification Program: A Study Of It- Support Training Programs At Western Kentucky University, Michael Courtney Moore

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Technology is a critical component of modern-day success. Advancements in technology have improved communication between individuals and companies. Technological advancements have allowed students to earn college degrees online. People who habitually use technology expect a high level of performance and support. As new technologies are implemented, such as complex web services or new operating systems, the dependence for information technology (IT) support grows in demand. Even learning curves can be cumbersome without proper assistance from IT professionals. Companies and institutions must accommodate user needs by implementing fast, efficient, and friendly support. In order to offer optimal customer support, representatives must …

The Effect Of Functional Fixation In Problem Solving Among Preschool, Second Grade, And Ninth Grade Children, Michael Kenneth Nehring

Dissertations

Functional fixedness is a cognitive function whereby an individual becomes fixated on a given function of an object, which prevents the individual from using the object in an alternative fashion to solve a problem (Duncker, 1935/1945). The current study analyzed the effect of functional fixedness on 36 children from three different age groups, preschool, second grade, and ninth grade. The children were presented with a problem solving activity based on a problem used by German and Defeyter (2000), in which they concluded that young children are immune to the effects of functional fixedness. Research conducted by Chrysikou (2006) indicated using …

The Influence Of Biogenic Opal On 231pa/230th In Sediments From The Bermuda Rise And Its Implication For Paleocirculation Reconstructions, Theresa Marie King

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Thermohaline circulation is responsible for the global transport of heat in surface waters of the ocean, and variability in this circulation has been linked to both short- and long-term climate change on time scales ranging from centuries to tens of thousands of years. Accurate reconstructions of past variability are thus critical to understanding modern and future thermohaline circulation changes and the response of the global climate system. The main circulation feature in the Atlantic is Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and has been reconstructed using a variety of static proxies, but more recently through the use of sedimentary 231Pa_{xs …}

The Mechanisms Of Nmda Receptor Activation, Rashek Kazi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Glutamate-gated ion channels embedded within the neuronal membrane are the primary mediators of fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. The ion channel of these glutamate receptors contains a pore-lining transmembrane M3 helix surrounded by peripheral M1 and M4 helices. In the NMDA receptor (NMDAR), opening of the ion channel pore requires rearrangements of these helical elements, but there is currently no functional model for how this occurs. To address how agonist binding is transduced into pore opening in NMDARs, we manipulated the coupling between the ligand binding domain (LBD) and the M3 helix of the ion channel …

Rhetoric And The Way To Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Heidegger, Nanda Golden

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

By developing Martin Heidegger's interpretation of Plato, Aristotle, and the Greek rhetorical tradition, this dissertation argues that rhetoric, understood as the discipline that best knows how to lead others with everyday speech, is crucial for rousing the desire to choose the philosophical life. This work focuses primarily on three texts: Plato's Phaedrus, Aristotle's Rhetoric, and Heidegger's 1924 lecture Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy. It fleshes out Heidegger's concept of rhetoric by mapping it on to the development of Greek rhetorical theory, showing how rhetoric's philosophical potential comes to be realized and why Plato and Aristotle's philosophical investigation of rhetoric must …

Measuring The Anti-Quark Contribution To The Proton Spin Using Parity Violating W Production In Polarized Proton Proton Collisions, Ciprian Gal

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Since the 1980s the spin puzzle has been at the heart of many experimental measurements. The initial discovery that only ~30% of the spin of the proton comes from quarks and anti-quarks has been refined and cross checked by several other deep inelastic scattering (DIS) and semi inclusive DIS (SIDIS) experiments. Through measurements of polarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) the individual contributions of the u, d, \bar{u}, \bar{d}, quarks have been measured. The flavor separation done in SIDIS experiments requires knowledge of fragmentation functions (FFs). However, due to the higher uncertainty of the anti-quark FFs compared to the quark FFs, …

Neutral Current Pi-Zero Production Rate Measurement On-Water Using The Pi-Zero Detector In The Near Detector Of The T2k Experiment, Karin Elisabeth Gilje

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The T2K Experiment is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that stretches 295 km from the east to the west coast of Japan (Tokai-Mura to Kamioka). One of the major goals of the experiment is a measurement of theta_{13} and (if theta_{13} is non-zero) potentially CP violation in the lepton sector. This is performed by searching for nu_e appearance in a nu_mu beam from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The far detector, Super Kamiokande (SK), is a water Cherenkov detector. One of the dominant background for SK in the oscillation measurement is the uncertainty on the cross section of the …

Coupling Spin Resonances In Rhic And Ags, Nermeen Khalil

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The polarization of proton beam during the acceleration process in a particle accelerator is affected by the existence of spin resonances. Coupling spin resonances can be excited in the presence of the betatron coupling introduced by rolled quadrupoles and solenoids, as well as in when the stable direction of the spin deviates from the vertical (for instance, by partial Snakes or spin rotators). In this study, We extended the ASPIRRIN code to account for the effect of solenoid magnets and related betatron coupling on the spin resonances. The examples of the coupling spin resonance for RHIC are given. In addition, …

The Influence Of Proton Order On The Thermal Conductivity Of Ice, Jonathan Tammo Siebert

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Water is one of the most important reasons for the possibility of life on earth. Even though water and ice have been in the focus of countless studies they are far from being understood. Despite their simple molecular structure, especially the ability of the molecule to form hydrogen bonds leads to a variety of interesting properties. One of them is the density maximum of water in its liquid state. This is caused by the hydrogen bound hexagonal structure of low pressure ice. In this work the influence of proton ordering on the thermal conductivity of hexagonal ice is examined. It …

Qcd Factorization For Heavy Quarkonium Production And Fragmentation Functions, Hong Zhang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

From the Tevatron and the LHC data, it is clear that current models for the heavy quarkonium production are not able to explain the polarization of produced heavy quarkonia at large transverse momentum p_T. A new approach to evaluate the heavy quarkonium production, by expanding the cross section in powers of 1/p_T before the expansion in powers of &alpha_s, was proposed recently. In terms of the QCD factorization, it is proved that both the leading and next-to-leading power terms in 1/p_T for the cross sections can be systematically factorized to all orders in powers …

The Authoritarian Party Identity And Its Impact On American Political Polarization, Julie Ann Wronski

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Political scientists and pundits alike have characterized the American electorate as being increasingly polarized in recent decades. This polarization has been framed in the context of the " culture war," where party elites and citizens have become more ideologically divided on salient social issues. Recent contributions by political scientists suggest that the sources of " culture war" polarization are more deeply rooted in individual traits, and that partisan polarization represents a " worldview evolution" that has split citizens into Democratic and Republican camps on the basis of their needs for order, certainty, and security - conceptualized as authoritarianism. This argument …

Recombination Of Charge Carriers In Low Dielectric Constant Organic Solvent, Hung Cheng Chen

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation consists of three projects: (1) Escape of Anions from Geminate Recombination due to Charge Delocalization. (2) Charge Separation of Electron-Hole Pairs (Exciplexes) Enhanced by Charge Delocalization. (3) Energies of Radical Anions Measured by Bimolecular Electron Transfer Equilibria Method. The first project studies geminate recombination of 23 radical anions (M*− ) with solvated protons (RH₂+) in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The recombination has two steps: (1) Diffusion of M*− and RH₂+ together to form intimate (contact and solvent separated) ion pairs, driven by Coulomb attraction; (2) Annihilation of anions due to proton transfer (PT) from RH_{2 …}

Pvp-Ca Composite Preparation And Its Characteristics, Ruiyao Cui

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is a commonly used polymer that has some excellent properties, such as great strength and biocompatibility. Cellulose Acetate (CA) is another excellent polymer that has been employed in many applications, including drug. PVP-CA composite has both strength and flexible properties that can be used as ultrafiltration membranes or the drug release system. PVP-CA composites comprise a new class of materials that have been the scope of this work. In this research, the electrospun PVP-CA composites were prepared under different concentrations. Then, the impact of different electrospinning parameters on fiber diameters was investigated. Moreover, acetic acid and acetone were …

Diamond Detector--Material Science, Design And Application, Mengjia Gaowei

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Modern synchrotrons, such as the NSLS-II, will enable unprecedented science by having extremely high brightness and flux with exceptional beam stability. These capabilities create a harsh and demanding environment for measuring the characteristics of the x-ray beam. In many cases, existing measurement techniques fail completely, requiring the development of new detectors which can meet the demands of the synchrotron. The combination of diamond properties ranked diamond an appealing candidate in the field of radiation detection in extreme conditions and it has been used as x-ray sensor material for decades. However, only until the development of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process …

Comparative Study Of Microstructure And Properties Of Thermal Sprayed Mcraly Bond Coatings, Michael William Inglima

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

A series of experiments were performed in order to observe certain process-property trends in thermally sprayed MCrAlY bond coatings for thermal barrier coating (TBC) applications in gas-turbine engines. Firstly, the basis of gas-turbine operation and design is discussed with a focus on the Brayton cycle and basic thermodynamic properties with respect to both the thermal and fuel efficiency of the turbine. The high-temperature environment inside the gas-turbine engine creates an extremely corrosive medium in which the engineering components must operate with sufficient operating life times. These engineering constraints, both thermal/fuel efficiency and operating life, pose a serious problem during long …

High Throughput Electrospinning Of High-Quality Nanofibers Via An Aluminum Disk Spinneret, Guokuo Zheng

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this work, a simple and efficient needleless high throughput electrospinning process using an aluminum disk spinneret with 24 holes is described. Electrospun mats produced by this setup consisted of fine fibers (nano-sized) of the highest quality while the productivity (yield) was many times that obtained from conventional single-needle electrospinning. The goal was to produce scaled-up amounts of the same or better quality nanofibers under variable concentration, voltage, and the working distance than those produced with the single needle lab setting. The fiber mats produced were either polymer or ceramic (such as molybdenum trioxide nanofibers). Through experimentation the optimum process …

Limits Of Real-Normalized Dierentials On Stable Curves, Chaya Rifka Norton

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

A recent approach proposed by Grushevsky and Krichever uses real-normalized differentials, meromorphic differentials with all periods real, to study the geometry of the moduli space of curves. We describe the behavior of real-normalized differentials under degeneration of the Riemann surface, and this analysis allows us to study the limits of zeros of these differentials near the boundary of the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space of curves. Our explicit description of the behavior of real-normalized differentials near nodal curves provides a tool for understanding common zeros of such differentials which has applications for the study of plane curves. This analysis …

The Kontsevich Space Of Rational Curves On Cyclic Covers Of Projective Space, Lloyd Smith

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this thesis we consider the space of rational curves on a smooth cyclic cover of Pn. These varieties are the simplest examples of Fano varieties beyond the classical examples of complete intersections in homogeneous spaces. We show that for a general cyclic cover, the Kontsevich moduli stack of stable curves in X is irreducible and has the expected dimension. Specifically, let X be a general smooth cyclic cover of Pn of degree r branched over a divisor of degree rd, and let M(X,e) be the Kontsevich moduli stack of stable rational curves of degree e on X. We show …