Digital Commons Network^™

‘My Name Is Khan’ And I Am Not A Terrorist: Intersections Of Counter Terrorism Measures And The International Framework For Refugee Protection, Neha Bhat

San Diego International Law Journal

This paper is structured as follows: Part II traces the development of international instruments on the definition of terrorism, terrorist activities and “incitement to terrorism.” Part III first explores the normative framework of exclusion under the 1951 Convention and how the RSD procedure has undergone a notional shift, with exclusion considerations becoming more central. The section will then look at the provisions of Article 1F of the 1951 Convention, which contain the exclusion clauses and also discuss incorporation of terrorism exception to the asylum law framework in the United States. Part IV concludes with the proposition that the dangers of …

Samsāra To Nirvāna: What Would It Mean To Actually Free Tibet?, Leah Marie Shellberg

San Diego International Law Journal

For Mahayana Buddhists, samsara literally means “wandering-on,” but in theory, it refers to the cyclical nature of birth and re-birth characterized by suffering that a Buddhist must break out of in order to achieve nirvana, a state free of suffering. Since the occupation and incorporation of Tibet into the People’s Republic of China (“China”) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Tibetan people have experienced a far more intense form of metaphorical samsara at the hands of the Chinese administration. The term “genocide,” coined by Raphael Lemkin in the wake of the Holocaust, combines the ancient Greek word “genos” …

Partners Or Rivals In Reconciliation? The Ictr And Rwanda’S Gacaca Courts, Leo C. Nwoye

San Diego International Law Journal

A major question for post-conflict governments to consider is how best to shape reconciliation efforts. This Article examines two transitional justice mechanisms that were utilized in Rwanda’s post genocide era and assesses their contributions to reconciliation. The two principal approaches which emerged in the Rwandan context were the establishment of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), via the international political community whilst grassroots efforts within Rwanda were channeled through the gacaca court system. While each of these systems, though unintended and incoherent hybrid justice strategies, possessed strengths and weaknesses, this legal pluralist structure nevertheless yielded positive reconciliation results.

The Article …

Defense Lawyering And Wrongful Convictions, Ellen Yaroshefsky, Laura Schaefer

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In Examining Wrongful Convictions: Stepping Back, Moving Forward, the premise is that much can be learned by “stepping back” from the focus on the direct causes of wrongful convictions and examining criminal justice systems, and the sociopolitical environments in which they operate. Expert scholars examine the underlying individual, systemic, and social or structural conditions that may help precipitate and sustain wrongful convictions, thereby “moving forward” the related scholarship.

"Examining Wrongful Convictions is a book that has no equal. With full and up-to-date chapters dedicated to the unique vulnerability of adolescents, insufficiently protected; the enabling role of a “muddled” news media, …

The Discrimination Of The Ethnic Chinese In Indonesia And Perceptions Of Nationality, Amanda Walujono

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the established literature is mostly political, economic, and social histories of modern Indonesia, my thesis will establish motivations behind the context of the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia with particular attention on how it affects the perception of ethnic Chinese Indonesian’s nationality. Most of the times in the established literature, the history, motivations, and consequences behind the discrimination of the ethnic Chinese are briefly summarized or put in as an afterthought. Most of the present day established literature is focused on how the now-allowed Chinese imports are starting to influence Indonesian culture and how post-Suharto regimes have …

Effect Of Silica Nanoparticle Aggre-Gate State On Pickering Emulsion For-Mation And Stability, Maximillian Sender

Open Access Master's Theses

During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in 2010 approximately 210 million gallons of crude oil was released into the Gulf of Mexico. To enable bacterial degradation the oil had to be dispersed into small oil droplets, which was achieved using 1.84 million gallons of chemical surfactants. As these surfactants have questionable environmental impacts, the idea of this research project is to use silica nanoparticles as a model particle to form Pickering emulsions and to study oil-mineral aggregate (OMA) formation. Pickering emulsions typically consist of oil droplets stabilized by solid particles instead of surfactants. Silica might be suitable for this as …

The Impact Of Cultural Cringe On Consumer Behavior In China, Yue Hu

Open Access Master's Theses

China’s market with huge demand and limited supply has become attractive to many international companies since 1976. This study examines the impact of cultural cringe on consumer behavior in China by using Nike, an American sports brand, and Li-Ning, a Chinese sports brand as examples. An online questionnaire survey with 36 questions is conducted in a comprehensive college in the People’s Republic of China. Participants are 314 students from different majors. Results show that the increase of cultural cringe leads to the increasing likelihood of buying Nike’s products. Limitations of the study and the direction for future research are also …

Paleoenvironmental And Paleolandscape Reconstructions Of Greenwich Bay Region, Ri, Cameron E. Morissette

Open Access Master's Theses

A paleoenvironmental and paleolandscape reconstruction of two separate sites in the Greenwich Bay region of RI was completed for use in the Paleocultural Landscapes Project. Investigations of a lacustrine sediment record in Warwick, RI were completed in order to develop a regional paleoenvironmental reference record. Investigations of the acoustic sub-bottom record in Greenwich Bay, RI were completed in order to develop paleolandscape reconstructions of the observed depositional environments for future use in an archaeological site prediction model.

For Chapter one, we took a single sediment core from Gorton Pond, Warwick, RI in the summer of 2013 for the purpose of …

Microplate Methodologies Applied To Environmental Biotechnology, Farrah Solomon

Open Access Master's Theses

Microarray technology is a high-throughput technique that allows a researcher to reduce the amount of reagents for each experiment as well as conduct multiple experiments with varying conditions simultaneously with the capability of analyzing this data quickly. Such microarray techniques have been applied in different fields such as environmental, pharmaceutical, microbiology, and biomedical among others (Kricka 2001).

Chapter 1 provides an introduction to microarray technology with a description of three different techniques: Phenotypic Microarray, DNA Microarray and Protein Microarray, used to study different aspects of microorganisms.

Chapter 2 presents the first manuscript, “A novel application of microarray technology to respiration …

The Roman Nation: Rethinking Ancient Nationalism, Travis Roberts

Open Access Master's Theses

The study of nations and nationalism is often restricted to the examination of modern nations that appeared after the French Revolution. This is because the dominant trend in academic discourse argues that nations only came into existence as a result of modern technologies, mass printing and high levels of literacy. These features are deemed necessary because it has previously been assumed there was no way for individuals within earlier societies to imagine they were part of a larger nation of people similar to themselves. However, Nations are human communities with common cultural features, languages, myths, ancestral homelands and the legal …

Overwhelmed To Action: Digital Preservation Challenges At The Under-Resourced Institution, Amanda K. Rinehart, Patrice-Andre Prud'homme, Andrew R. Huot

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

Digital preservation advocates at small or mid-sized institutions struggle with the expectations of implementing a digital preservation program. Given that they operate with fewer resources than their larger colleagues, implementation can seem overwhelmingly difficult. With digital preservation a pressing issue, how do these libraries begin to tackle the challenge? Advocates at Milner Library have had the advantage of collaborating on the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant, Preserving (Digital) Objects With Restricted Resources (POWRR). This case study examines how they have applied the lessons they have learned to go from being overwhelmed to taking action. Along …

Facing 21st Century Realities, Judith L. Maute

MC Law Review

No abstract provided.

From The Rule Of One To Shared Parenting: Custody Presumptions In Law And Policy, J. Herbie Difonzo

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Child custody presumptions have formed part of Anglo-American law for centuries. Both the paternal preference rule at common law and the tender years doctrine that supplanted it in the nineteenth century signaled the law’s conviction that custody was indivisible: after a marital breakup, children could be entrusted to only one parent, with the other an infrequent visitor. This “rule of one” began to weaken in the last third of the twentieth century, as the movement toward gender equality called attention to the importance of both parents in the care and nurturance of children and loosened the link between gender and …

Accessing Law: An Empirical Study Exploring The Influence Of Legal Research Medium, Stefan H. Krieger, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The legal profession is presently engaged in an uncontrolled experiment. Attorneys now locate and access legal authorities primarily through electronic means. Although this shift to an electronic research medium radically changes how attorneys discover and encounter law, little empirical work investigates impacts from the shift to an electronic medium.

This Article presents the results of one of the most robust empirical studies conducted to date comparing research processes using print and electronic sources. While the study presented in this Article was modest in scope, the extent and type of the differences that it reveals are notable. Some of the observed …

Disidentified Masculinities, Jacqueline Hope Freedman

Scripps Senior Theses

My capstone is a conversation of the Millennial Generation’s views of individual identity and masculinity, with the hopes of deconstructing the socially constructed and exclusive notions of masculinity by defining a generation’s “common sense.”

My piece is inspired by the portraiture of Chad States in Masculinities (2011) as well as Loren Cameron’s work in Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits (1996). The theoretical basis of my project relies heavily on Antonio Gramsci’s concept of “common sense” as well as José Esteban Muñoz’s disidentification. Common sense refers to an instinctual, “uncritical and largely unconscious way of perceiving and understanding.” It “is a collective …

Identification Of Secondary Metabolite Gene Clusters Of Bacteria From South Pacific Gyre Subseafloor Sediment, Liwei Zhu

Open Access Master's Theses

Secondary metabolites are organic compounds that are not directly involved in the key processes (growth, reproduction and development) of an organism. They are commonly targeted in pharmaceutical science for drug discovery. Secondary metabolites that have been used in drug discovery have been derived from plants, invertebrates and microbes. Microbes, bacteria in particular, have contributed greatly and will continue to play an important role in new drug discovery. Among the bacteria from all environments, marine bacteria are a vast reservoir for many potential useful bioactive compounds. Recent studies using marine bacteria for pharmaceutical use mainly focused on the bacteria collected from …

Leukocyte Recruitment To The Peritoneum Of Cultured Summer Flounder (Paralichthys Dentatus) During Bacterial, Pilar Juliet Nelson

Open Access Master's Theses

Summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) constitutes a major fishery in the coastal northeastern United States. Spurred by population declines, cultivation of summer flounder began in 1996, but expansion of culture efforts has been constrained by disease outbreaks. Flounder Infectious Necrotizing Enteritis (FINE) causes significant mortality of juvenile flounder. The disease is characterized by ascites, intestinal prolapse, and severe inflammation of the mesentery and posterior intestinal serosa, often resulting in intestinal rupture. FINE is caused by Vibrio harveyi, a bacterial pathogen of cultured marine fish and invertebrates. To better understand the immune response to FINE, recruitment and fluctuation of …

Aural (Re)Positioning And The Aesthetics Of Realism In First-Person Shooter Games, Ryan P. Laliberty

Open Access Master's Theses

The following study is concerned with how immersive experiences are constructed in first-person shooter (FPS) video games through the implementation of “realistic” audio. Bringing together the three fields of video game studies, sound studies, and science and technology studies in its theoretical framework, this study approaches FPS games as commodities, marketed for their capabilities towards providing the player with an immersive and realistic experience, and constructed in particular ways, for particular ends. The first part of this study explores the context of FPS game audio development, from the earliest days of video games in the mid-twentieth century, to the current …

Wedding Dress Purchase Intentions Of Tattooed Brides, Sarah Yang

Open Access Master's Theses

A tattooed bride faces internal and external influences that may affect her choice of dress. She also will face the decision of whether to hide or show her tattoos on her wedding day. A review of literature revealed that the history of tattoos, contemporary tattoos, and history of weddings have been comprehensively researched (Fenske 2007; Koch, Roberts, Armstrong, and Owen 2010; DeMello 2003; Mo 2000; Ehrman 2011). However, the topic [of tattooed brides has not been explored. Discussion threads on several wedding blogs indicate that tattooed brides have faced the issue of whether to hide or show their tattoos and …

Epigenetic Modification And Analysis Of Natural Product Gene Clusters To Enhance Drug Discovery From Bacteria, Justin D. Schumacher

Open Access Master's Theses

Natural products, and molecules derived from them, have played an extremely large role in the field of medicine and have contributed as therapies for numerous disease states. Unfortunately, the rate of discovery of medically relevant molecules from natural sources is slowing as secondary metabolite studies from microbes are increasingly yielding the re-isolation of previously known compounds. This study focused on isolating new secondary metabolites through the usage of two different techniques: (1) treatment of fungi and bacteria with epigenetic modifying compounds to induce natural product production, and (2) genome mining/bioinformatic analysis of natural product gene clusters to enhance the isolation …

Frontier Theory And The Reconquista: The Role Of Laws In Defining The Frontiers Of Medieval Spain, Alan Nicholas Witt

Open Access Master's Theses

Statement of the Problem: Recent historians have argued that the term “frontier” and the related concepts of frontier societies or zones (as used by scholars of medieval Spain in particular and the Middle Ages in general) are all amorphous and ill-defined concepts, lacking predictive value because of their conflicting usages by different historians. Is it possible to create a solid foundation for the term “frontier” so that it can be utilized in historical discourse? Do any of the elements of the frontier hypothesis as it was originally conceived hold up when applied to contemporary medieval notions of the frontier?

Methodology …

Feminist Stereotypes: Communal Vs. Agentic, Emily R. Lindburg

Scripps Senior Theses

This study examined relationships between facial appearance, gender-linked traits, and feminist stereotypes. Naïve college students rated traits based on facial appearance of female CEO's whose companies appeared in the Forbes 1000 list. The photos of each female CEO (n=35) were randomly combined with two descriptive identifiers; an occupation (n=9) and an interest area (n=9), including 'feminist'. Participants then rated the head shots of the CEO's on a 7 point Likert scale of communal (expected feminine) traits like attractiveness, warmth, compassion and cooperativeness, and on agentic (expected masculine) traits like ambition, leadership ability and intelligence. If college students hold negative stereotypes …

Madrid Me Mata: Regional Identity Politics And Community Building Through The Music Of La Movida Madrileña, Winona A. Bechte

Scripps Senior Theses

Chapter 1: Formation and Early Beginnings of music in la Movida
-In the first chapter I am writing about how the early development of la Movida runs very much alongside political initiatives to stimulate cultural development in Madrid. Specifically I am writing about how popular songs and musicians at the time translated these messages of regional pride and identity that was being heavily stimulated by the government into a way that the general public could understand and support. Citing specific song lyrics and early bands of la Movida, I also track the years leading up to 1975 and how music …

A Paradoxical Paradise: The Marquesas As A Degenerate And Regenerative Space In The Western Imagination, Christine A. Zenel

Scripps Senior Theses

The Western imagination has ascribed histories and identities of the Marquesas Islands throughout centuries of evolving discourses and representations as a paradoxical paradise, bolstering colonialist ideologies of social evolutionary theory. The islands have either been represented as backwards on a social scale to justify Western dominance, or have been represented as being in a state of authentic human nature out of colonial guilt and imperialist nostalgia. These representations reveal a paradox in which the Marquesas is ascribed in the Western imagination as a degenerate space, yet also as a space where the regeneration of human nature is made …

Data Collection And Telemetry System Design For Marine Instrumentation: The Son-O-Mermaid, Donaldo Guevara

Open Access Master's Theses

This Thesis presents a prototype design for Sonobuoy Mobile Earthquake Recorder in Marine Areas by Independent Divers (Son-O-MERMAID), a floating instrument that acts as a freely drifting seismometer that captures acoustic signals caused by distant seismic activity. A first version of Son-O-MERMAID was built and deployed in October of 2012, but due to Hurricane Sandy the device was destroyed and data lost. A major limitation of this device was the fact that acoustic data was collected and stored in a submerged computer at a depth of 2,000 feet and data was only accessible once the device was pulled out of …

The Legitimate Consequences Of Form Of Government And Nonpartisan Ballots In Municipal Elections, Lucy Williams Hall

Open Access Master's Theses

In this paper, the question of whether there is a difference in voter participation between partisan and nonpartisan ballots in municipal elections is addressed. This study will employ statistical regression to isolate and measure voter turnout in these two scenarios. Reforms which began in the late nineteenth century continue to have an impact on our daily lives. The Progressive Era, which championed much social equality for our country, has an oft overlooked darker side whose influences and consequences remain. Specifically, the municipal reforms of the early twentieth century. Much of the research on the topic of municipal elections has included …

Positive Patient Experiences In An Australian Integrative Oncology Centre, Bonnie J. Furzer, Anna S. Petterson, Kemi E. Wright, Karen E. Wallman, Timothy R. Ackland, David J. Joske

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of cancer patients' utilising complementary and integrative therapies (CIT) within integrative oncology centres across Western Australia.Methods: Across four locations 135 patients accessed CIT services whilst undergoing outpatient medical treatment for cancer. Of the 135 patients, 66 (61 ± 12 y; female n = 45; male n = 21) agreed to complete a personal accounts questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions designed to explore patients' perceptions of CIT. All results were transcribed into nVivo (v9) and using thematic analysis, key themes were identified.Results: Of the 66 participants, 100% indicated they would …

Messages That Increase Women's Intentions To Abstain From Alcohol During Pregnancy: Results From Quantitative Testing Of Advertising Concepts, Kathryn E. France, Robert J. Donovan, Carol Bower, Elizabeth J. Elliott, Janet M. Payne, Heather D'Antoine, Anne E. Bartu

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Background: Public awareness-raising campaigns targeting alcohol use during pregnancy are an important part of preventing prenatal alcohol exposure and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Despite this, there is little evidence on what specific elements contribute to campaign message effectiveness. This research evaluated three different advertising concepts addressing alcohol and pregnancy: a threat appeal, a positive appeal promoting a self-efficacy message, and a concept that combined the two appeals. The primary aim was to determine the effectiveness of these concepts in increasing women's intentions to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Methods. Women of childbearing age and pregnant women residing in Perth, Western …

Ensuring The Development Of Digital Literacy In Higher Education Curricula, Mark T. Mcmahon

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Digital Literacy is widely considered to be an essential attribute for both academic and professional success. In an increasingly regulated and standards -based higher education environment, however, there is a lack of clear guidance as to what constitutes the nature of appropriate level of Digital Literacy that graduates need to demonstrate. This paper argues for the application of a Digital Literacy Taxonomy to articulate the dimensions inherent in it, which can then be applied to student activities and curricula. This process can be used to assist academics in identifying the literacy requirements of their courses, their own opportunities for professional …

Challenges Of Conducting Ethical Video-Based Classroom Research, Mark W. Hackling

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The advent of digital video technology has opened ‐ up a new paradigm of education research as it has the capacity to capture a permanent record of all the nuances of teaching and learning interactions in a form that allows the data to be scrutinised in great detail and shared with other teachers and researchers. The Capture of teaching on video is becoming widespread both for research and for teacher professional learning purposes. There are a number of research ethical principles and professional ethics that need to be considered when conducting this type of research if the rights of participants …