Digital Commons Network^™

Pros And Cons Of The 1977 Protocol I, Howard S. Levie

Akron Law Review

There are many provisions of value to be found in the 1977 Protocol Additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions (Protocol ). Unfortunately, there are also a number of provisions which would have been better left undrafted. This discussion will be limited to several provisions, or groups of provisions, which appear to be major advances in the humanitarian law of war - and several provisions, or groups of provisions, which appear to be retrogressive. Obviously, neither list will be all-inclusive; to make them so would require a listing and discussion of practically every substantive article in the Protocol. In fact, inasmuch …

An Interdisciplinary Approach To The Strategic Defense Initiative Debate, Scott F. March

Akron Law Review

An interdisciplinary framework in which international law is but one element is presented in this article in the hope of lending organization to the complex subject of space weaponization. Seven factors are discussed which strongly influence decision-makers in both the United States and the Soviet Union who are charged with establishing and implementing the military space policies of their respective nations. They are (1) the relationship between the militarization of earth and the militarization of space; (2) the effects of weapon technology and national defense policy upon the use of space; (3) the interrelationship of the international law-making process with …

National Gay Task Force V. Board Of Education Of Oklahoma City, Susan Fitch

Akron Law Review

The National Gay Task Force (NGTF) looked to the courts for relief in challenging an Oklahoma statute which attempted to regulate teachers' speech. National Gay Task Force v. Board of Education of Oklahoma City marks the first time since the beginning of the gay rights movement that the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari to a case which had homosexuality as its central issue. The result in National Gay Task Force has left both the challengers and the defenders of the Oklahoma statute claiming victory.

The NGTF claims that although the portion of the statute which prohibits teachers from …

The Relevance Of Culpability To The Punishment And Prevention Of Crime, R. J. Spjut

Akron Law Review

It follows that if a legal system may fairly punish only a person who culpably violated the law, a preventive restraint like self-defense is also fair only when it is used against a person whose offense or imminent offense is culpable. Such measures as punishment and prevention are justified because "a person who violates the order of fairness, which can be described as a system of rights,forfeits certain of his own rights." The forfeiture theory implicitly associates A's loss of rights with his deserts and suggests some analogy with punishment. Finnis' argument both makes explicit the analogy and shifts attention …

Recovery For The Wrongful Death Of A Viable Fetus: Werling V. Sandy, Janet I. Stich

Akron Law Review

In Werling v. Sandy, the Ohio Supreme Court held a viable fetus, negligently injured "en ventre sa mere" and subsequently stillborn, may be the basis for a wrongful death action pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code § 2125.01.1 The court's ruling represented Ohio's explicit acceptance of the trend allowing a wrongful death action for the death of a fetus. Although Werling was not a case of first impression in Ohio, it presented the Ohio Supreme Court with the first opportunity to expand the legal rights of the unborn.

Recombinant Dna And The Regulation Of Biotechnology: Reflections On The Asilomar Conference, Ten Years After, John E. Barkstrom

Akron Law Review

The year 1985 marks the tenth anniversary of the International Conference on Recombinant DNA Molecules held at the Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove, California in late February, 1975. The entire field of genetic engineering technology or "gene splicing" is not much older than the Conference itself. Many articles and much discussion have been occasioned by the recombinant DNA debate, including legal symposia held by the Universities of Southern California and Toledo. This article looks back at the events which led to Asilomar, the debate which followed, and some of the legal and ethical problems involved in the debate.

“Information Theory” Research Trend: A Bibliometric Approach, Maryam Asadi

SLIS Connecting

One of the most controversial issues, in a multidisciplinary area, is information theory. The American Heritage Science Dictionary (2014) defines information theory as “a branch of mathematics that mathematically defines and analyzes the concept of information, statistics and probability theory, and applications include the design of systems that have to do with data transmission, encryption, compression, and information processing and deeply affected many fields.” It has a fundamental contribution to make in multiple disciplines, such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, physics, neurobiology, communication theory, information science, economics, and electrical engineering. Indeed, information theory played a crucial role to achieve many …

Does Family Matter: The Parental Roles Of Young Adult Media, Antoinette Giamalva Mlis

SLIS Connecting

In young adult media there are different roles that parents of the main characters symbolize. The role of parental figures can vary in their original conception and throughout media forms. Readers and viewers have their opinions about how parental figures representation should be characterized. Sometimes parental figures are what drive the stories along in a more interesting manner. The four types of parental presences represented are: a healthy parental presence, lack of parental presence, a broken parental presence, and a substitute parental presence. Readers and viewers of young adult media have many questions about the roles that parental figures have …

A Welfare Interdependence Approach To Third-Party Punishment, Eric J. Pedersen

Open Access Dissertations

Third-party punishment—the targeted infliction of costs on behalf of another by an unaffected third party—has been demonstrated in several species, including humans. Here I propose that one of the functions of third-party punishment is to deter future harm to victims with whom the punisher’s welfare is interdependent. Additionally, I propose that this function is governed by psychological mechanisms that use internal regulatory variables called welfare trade-off ratios (WTRs) to guide social behavior via their outputs to motivational systems. Specifically, I propose that WTRs are used by the psychological mechanisms that regulate whether witnesses become angry in response to harms imposed …

Novel Mechanism Of Breast Cancer Prevention And Treatment Using Natural Extract Of Pimenta Dioica, Lei Zhang

Open Access Dissertations

Plant-derived dietary compounds have shown potential as chemopreventive and anticancer agents to prolong survival and reduce breast cancer deaths. Lack of specific mechanism of action is the leading concern for adopting these edible compounds as chemopreventive or adjuvant therapeutics against breast and other cancers. The unripe berries of Pimenta Dioica, also called Allspice, are widely used in cuisines worldwide, contain a cornucopia of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic properties. Limited studies on the potential anticancer compounds present in Allspice prompted us to hypothesize and test potential antiproliferative agents in an aqueous extract of Allspice (AAE). The potential anti-tumor activity of …

Nonlinear Dynamics Of Some Ecological And Epidemiological Models, Jing Chen

Open Access Dissertations

In studying some biological problems, the descriptive features of biological systems are delivered by differential equations which can be studied quantitatively by both analytical and computational methods. The obtained results can be interpreted back to the biological level, then explain some phenomena and also provide some strategies. In this thesis, both of ecological and epidemiological problems have been studied. In the first chapter, I studied the nonlinear dynamics of some ecological models to understand how seasonal harvesting affects ecological systems. I proposed a predator- prey model with a non-monotone functional response and seasonal prey harvesting, which is described by a …

Concussion Awareness And Educational Outreach Through A Website And Mobile Application, Daniel J. Brogan

Neuroscience Summer Fellows

In recent years concussions have become a more apparent problem in youth and adolescent sports. 1 in 5 high school students will sustain a concussion during the season. Due to medical and scientific advances, the diagnosis of concussions is becoming much simpler with key markers that are signs for an injury. Returning to play too soon before an athlete is fully recovered increases the likelihood that serious and irreversible neurological deficits can occur. Symptoms for concussions are necessary to track in order for an athlete to properly report their recovery to a physician. Doctors primarily rely on a patient’s report …

Biofilm Formation By Borrelia Burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Venkata Arun Timmaraju, Priyanka A.S. Theophilus, Kunthavai Balasubramanian, Shafiq Shakih, David F. Luecke, Eva Sapi

Biology and Environmental Science Faculty Publications

Bacterial biofilms are microbial communities held together by an extracellular polymeric substance matrix predominantly composed of polysaccharides, proteins and nucleic acids. We had previously shown that Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the causative organism of Lyme disease in the United States is capable of forming biofilms in vitro. Here, we investigated biofilm formation by B. afzelii and B. garinii, which cause Lyme disease in Europe. Using various histochemistry and microscopy techniques, we show that B. afzelii and B. garinii form biofilms, which resemble biofilms formed by B. burgdorferisensu stricto. High-resolution atomic force microscopy revealed similarities in the …

Talk And Deterrence In Drug Markets, Timothy Dickinson

Dissertations

Despite a wealth of conceptual and empirical examinations, key processes occurring during each of the primary stages of deterrence remain poorly specified. Little is known about how potential offenders form their perceptions of rules or threats, and the relationship between these perceptions and fear has only received moderate attention. In addition, many questions remain regarding how offenders eliminate or reshape punishments after violating rules. In this dissertation I examine how various forms of talk shape these processes. More specifically, I investigate how gossip influences offenders’ perceptions of rules or threats, how humor and threats and promises moderate the fear stemming …

My Sisters Myself: Exploring The Health And Wellness Practices Of African American Women, Carmen Alexis

Theses and Dissertations

African American women contribute disproportionately to disease in the United States. Researchers have repeatedly turned to issues related to poverty, access to medical care, and stress to explain this syndrome, however studies have shown that the disparities persist even in the absence of poverty and impaired access. Stress remains a constant in every discussion of disease in African American women, but what is it that fuels their particular brand of stress and how does it impact the health of African American women? The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the perceptions held by African American women in …

Gender Equality, Community Divisions And Autonomy: The Prospera Conditional Cash Transfer Program In Chiapas, Mexico, Óscar F. Gil-García

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty publications

This article examines the gender equality component of Prospera, a conditional cash transfer program in Mexico that provides cash contingent on three nodes of civic engagement: health, nutrition and education. This article draws on ethnographic research in La Gloria, a settlement of indigenous Mayan refugees from Guatemala in the Mexican state of Chiapas. I identify the Prospera program’s neoliberal features, the impact its gender equality measures have in the lives of women, their families, and in the political structure of the community of La Gloria. My findings reveal how Prospera reinforces gender and racial hierarchy, fosters community divisions that …

Leadership For Sustainability And Peace: Responding To The Wicked Challenges Of The Future, Rian Satterwhite, Whitney Mcintyre Miller, Kate Sheridan

Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In the past century our understanding of leadership has changed as the contexts in which leadership occurs evolve. Today, constructs of leadership that do not incorporate emergent concepts such as systems thinking no longer match the realities of the world in which it is exercised and the challenges it seeks to address. The challenges we face as a global community have increased in complexity, size, scope, and consequence. As a result of this contextual evolution, our definition of effective leadership is evolving as well."

High Yield Non-Detergent Isolation Of Photosystem I-Light-Harvesting Chlorophyll Ii Membranes From Spinach Thylakoids: Implications For The Organization Of The Ps I Antennae In Higher Plants, Adam J. Bell, Laurie K. Frankel, Terry M. Bricker

Faculty Publications

© 2015 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Styrene-maleic acid copolymer was used to effect a non-detergent partial solubilization of thylakoids from spinach. A high density membrane fraction, which was not solubilized by the copolymer, was isolated and was highly enriched in the Photosystem (PS) I-light-harvesting chlorophyll (LHC) II supercomplex and depleted of PS II, the cytochrome b6/f complex, and ATP synthase. The LHC II associated with the supercomplex appeared to be energetically coupled to PS I based on 77 K fluorescence, P700 photooxidation, and PS I electron transport light saturation experiments. The chlorophyll (Chl) a/b …

The Fkbp52 Cochaperone Acts In Synergy With Β-Catenin To Potentiate Androgen Receptor Signaling, Cheryl Samaniego, Ji Ho Suh, Arundhati Chattopadhyay, Karen Olivares, Naihsuan Guy, Jeffrey C. Sivils, Prasenjit Dey, Fumiak Yumoto, Robert J. Fletterick, Anders M. Strom, Jan-Åke Gustafsson, Paul Webb, Marc B. Cox

Biology Publications

FKBP52 and β-catenin have emerged in recent years as attractive targets for prostate cancer treatment. β-catenin interacts directly with the androgen receptor (AR) and has been characterized as a co-activator of AR-mediated transcription. FKBP52 is a positive regulator of AR in cellular and whole animal models and is required for the development of androgendependent tissues. We previously characterized an AR inhibitor termed MJC13 that putatively targets the AR BF3 surface to specifically inhibit FKBP52-regulated AR signaling. Predictive modeling suggests that β-catenin interacts with the AR hormone binding domain on a surface that overlaps with BF3. Here we demonstrate that FKBP52 …

Enabling Distributed Scientific Computing On The Campus, Derek J. Weitzel

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Campus research computing has evolved from many small decentralized resources, such as individual desktops, to fewer, larger centralized resources, such as clusters. This change has been necessitated by the increasing size of researcher's workloads, but this change has harmed the researcher's user experience. We propose to improve the user experience on the computational resources by creating an overlay cluster they are able to control. This overlay should transparently scale to national cyberinfrastructure as the user's demands increase.

We explore methods for improving the user experience when submitting jobs on a campus grid. To this end, we created a remote submission …

Gray To Lead Um Health Professions Advising Office, Michael Newsom

University of Mississippi News

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Morality In A Naturalistic Universe, Chris Hoops

Philosophy Summer Fellows

Naturalism is the view that our death marks a final and irreversible extinction. We are born into this world, we live our lives, and we ultimately perish from existence. This being the case, many naturalists urge people to live as fulfilling lives as possible. If this life is the only life people have, whatever constitutes the fullest or best way to live should be the way a person lives. However, what exactly constitutes a fulfilling life by the naturalist is not entirely agreed upon. Some naturalists claim that having individual happiness is what constitutes a fulfilling life, while others claim …

The Role Of Fathers On Masculinity And Obesity In African American Adolescent Males, Ailton S. Coleman

Doctoral Dissertations

African American adolescents suffer higher rates of obesity than European American adolescents. Greater prevalence in obesity among African American adolescent males is a particular concern for public health as adolescent obesity is linked to an increase in later life co-morbidities and earlier mortality, which African American adult males already experience at higher rates.

The goal of this dissertation was to understand socio-behavioral factors associated with obesity in African American adolescent males. To accomplish this goal, three different studies were conducted, including a systematic literature review. The systematic review examined research that focused on paternal influences on adolescent weight status.

Study …

Inflammation Mediated Metastasis: Immune Induced Epithelial-To-Mesenchymal Transition In Inflammatory Breast Cancer Cells., Evan N Cohen, Hui Gao, Simone Anfossi, Michal Mego, Neelima G Reddy, Bisrat Debeb, Antonio Giordano, Sanda Tin, Qiong Wu, Raul J Garza, Massimo Cristofanilli, Sendurai A Mani, Denise A Croix, Naoto T Ueno, Wendy A Woodward, Raja Luthra, Savitri Krishnamurthy, James M Reuben

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is the most insidious form of locally advanced breast cancer; about a third of patients have distant metastasis at initial staging. Emerging evidence suggests that host factors in the tumor microenvironment may interact with underlying IBC cells to make them aggressive. It is unknown whether immune cells associated to the IBC microenvironment play a role in this scenario to transiently promote epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in these cells. We hypothesized that soluble factors secreted by activated immune cells can induce an EMT in IBC and thus promote metastasis. In a pilot study of 16 breast …

Alternative Preprocessing Of Rna-Sequencing Data In The Cancer Genome Atlas Leads To Improved Analysis Results, Mumtahena Rahman, Laurie K. Jackson, W. Evan Johnson, Dean Y. Li, Andrea H. Bild, Stephen R. Piccolo

Faculty Publications

Motivation: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) RNA-Sequencing data are used widely for research. TCGA provides ‘Level 3’ data, which have been processed using a pipeline specific to that resource. However, we have found using experimentally derived data that this pipeline produces gene-expression values that vary considerably across biological replicates. In addition, some RNA-Sequencing analysis tools require integer-based read counts, which are not provided with the Level 3 data. As an alternative, we have reprocessed the data for 9264 tumor and 741 normal samples across 24 cancer types using the Rsubread package. We have also collated corresponding clinical data for these …

Isis Pharmaceuticals Launches Historic Clinical Trial To Silence Huntington's Disease Gene, Kenneth P. Serbin

At Risk for Huntington's Disease

No abstract provided.

Gold And Magnetic-Optical Nanoparticles For The Capture, Detection, And Combinatorial Treatment Of Cancer, Saheel Dilip Bhana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Cancer is a major health problem worldwide and is the second cause of death in the United States. Improved methods to fight cancer are greatly needed. The early detection of cancer is vital to help stop the spread of cancer. Circulating tumor cells are a hallmark of this invasive behavior of cancer. Sensitive and specific detection of CTCs can help in early detection of cancer preventing metastasis. CTC detection is extremely challenging because the number of CTCs in the blood of cancer patients is extremely low. Here, we report a new assay for high sensitivity detection of rare epithelial cancer …

Hegemonic Masculinity And Health Outcomes In Men: A Mediational Study On The Influence Of Masculinity On Diet, Ryan S. Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Research has demonstrated that men have markedly worse health outcomes than women and have higher rates of death from all 15 leading causes of death except Alzheimer's disease. Little is known about the cause of this discrepancy, except that in evaluations of lifestyle choices and preventive health factors, men engage in far more health-defeating behaviors than women, including diets significantly lower in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and micronutrients, and higher in fat and cholesterol. One theory proposed to help explain this discrepancy is that of hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine identification associated with cultural dominance and …

A Spline Framework For Optimal Representation Of Semiperiodic Signals, Farzin G. Guilak

Dissertations and Theses

Semiperiodic signals possess an underlying periodicity, but their constituent spectral components include stochastic elements which make it impossible to analytically determine locations of the signal's critical points. Mathematically, a signal's critical points are those at which it is not differentiable or where its derivative is zero. In some domains they represent characteristic points, which are locations indicating important changes in the underlying process reflected by the signal.

For many applications in healthcare, knowledge of precise locations of these points provides key insight for analytic, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes. For example, given an appropriate signal they might indicate the start or …

Characterization, Dna Binding And Cleavage Activities Of New Prodigiosin And Tambjamine Analogues And Their Cu²⁺ And Zn²⁺ Complexes, Karen Chichetu

Dissertations and Theses

Prodigiosins and tambjamines are natural compounds from bacterial and marine sources belonging to a family containing a common 4-methoxy-2,2'-bipyrrole core. These compounds have received a lot of interest due to their promising biological activities. Studies have suggested DNA as a potential therapeutic target for the natural prodigiosin and tambjamine due to their ability to facilitate oxidative DNA cleavage in the presence of Cu²⁺. Based on this we sought to study the metal binding activity of new prodigiosin and tambjamine analogues. A new prodigiosin analogue was synthesized and complexed with Cu²⁺. This revealed 1:1 complex formation between …