Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Eastern Versus Western Cultures On Women's Perceptions And Disclosure Of Mental Illness, Whitney Roxanne Sherrick

UROP Posters

Mental illnesses and the stigma that surrounds them have caused societal unrest since the development of the modern human. However, there remain differences in the way individuals perceive mental illness, allowing various levels of stigma to arise. The focus of this research is to determine the contrast between the views of Western and Eastern cultures concerning mental health status - exploring how cultural expectations for women affect their perception, and disclosure, of mental illnesses. This research involves studies that examined societal expectations for Western and Eastern cultures, and experiments measuring the perceptions of mental illness from individuals with various heritages. …

The Relation Between Infant Construction Strategy And Language Development In Toddlers, Gullnar Syed, Emily C. Marcinowski, Stacey C. Dusing, George F. Michel, Eliza L. Nelson

UROP Posters

Infants learn from interaction with physical objects in their environments. Object construction, or merging individual objects into a single structure, has been linked previously to language. Items and toys can be structured and combined with similarity to word combinations (Greenfield, 1991). Infants initially combine 2 objects and then graduate on to combine 3 pieces or more. Words are put together in comparable ways, with each word corresponding to an object, and a sentence corresponding to a single structure. The purpose of this project is to explore how construction ability in infants affects language ability in toddlers. We hypothesize that the …

The Implementation Of Memantine For Recovering Stroke Patients, Keerthana Shankar

UROP Posters

Recovering stroke patients go through rehabilitation to fix the paretic limbs and adapt to the nerve damage. Recovery consists of repetitive tasks that are designed to guide the plastic brain to adapt to new movements and gain muscle memory in those movements. Rehabilitation is strongly dependent on the brain’s plasticity, which is enacted through increased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF has been proven to be increased through aerobic exercise, a common element found in rehabilitation programs. It is vital that the exercises performed in rehabilitation result in higher brain plasticity due to the limited time window of the …

Socioeconomic Factors Associated With Cataract-Related Blindness Treatment In Women In Rural Regions Of Andhra Pradesh, Kiranpreet Kaur 4198353

UROP Posters

Despite efforts of Vision 2020 in India, the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) extrapolated, in 2000, approximately 18.7 million blind people in India and also, projected an increase to 31.6 million blind people by 2020. Within the state Andhra Pradesh itself, preventable corneal blindness increased to 1.84% from 1.5% in the late 1980s.

Numerous public health studies have been conducted to outline factors that cause and preclude treatment of avoidable corneal blindness in the India. Conclusively, the escalation of corneal blindness can be largely attributed to personal, social, and economic barriers in utilizing available eye-care services. However, due to …

Perceptions Of Harm And Addiction Among Dual Users Of Cigarettes And E-Cigarettes, Julia S. Rozman

UROP Posters

Background: Tobacco harm perceptions are important factors in why individuals may initiate, substitute, and/or engage in dual or poly-tobacco use patterns. Identifying correlates of these perceptions is important for understanding why these cognitions may exist and help provide intervention targets. The purpose of the current study was to examine perceptions of harm and addiction among a sample of cigarette and electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) users and examine whether these perceptions differ by demographics, other substance use, and tobacco use history.

Methods: The current sample consisted of 29 individuals who consented to participate in a clinical laboratory study of dual cigarette and …

Depression Intervention Programs In Low-Income High Schools, Gopika Hari

UROP Posters

It is estimated that 2.6 million adolescents suffer from major depressive episodes each year. Research has noted that symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies reveal that low income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically-disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only roughly 25% of children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come from schools. This study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools and on designing novel guidelines for effective protocols. A compilation …

The Effects Of Pet Ownership On Anxiety And Depression Among Trauma-Exposed College Students, Dung N. Nguyentran, Marlene A. Michniak, James J. Jung, Christine Q. Do

UROP Posters

Rates of anxiety and depression are prevalent in college students and can be attributed in part to stress and trauma-related events. However, studies suggest that pet ownership has the possibility of alleviating symptoms of anxiety, depression, negative emotions, and suicide. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between pet ownership and levels of anxiety and depression among those who have experienced a traumatic event. The sample was comprised of five hundred and forty-seven VCU students who completed an online survey from Spit for Science during their junior year. Linear regressions were performed to determine the nature and …

How And Why Has American Media Shifted The On-Screen Image Of Asian Americans From Stereotypical Roles To Lead Roles?, Sohail A. Syed

UROP Posters

Growing up as an Asian American, I never really had a role model of sort that I could relate to entirely. There were the general characters in movies that I looked up to but there was never that one character that I could possibly see myself as because there was never any lead characters that looked like me. Every time an Asian character was showed on-screen they were never a normal relatable person; they were always rather a living stereotype or unrealistic. Asians are always portrayed as intellectuals that are very awkward and geeky or one who has a very …

Big Data-Enabled Multiscale Serviceability Analysis For Aging Bridges, Yu Liang, Dalei Wu, Guirong Liu, Yaohang Li, Cuilan Gao, Zhongguo John Ma, Weidong Wu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This work is dedicated to constructing a multi-scale structural health monitoring system to monitor and evaluate the serviceability of bridges based on the Hadoop Ecosystem (MS-SHM-Hadoop). By taking the advantages of the fault-tolerant distributed file system called the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and high-performance parallel data processing engine called MapReduce programming paradigm, MS-SHM-Hadoop features include high scalability and robustness in data ingestion, fusion, processing, retrieval, and analytics. MS-SHM-Hadoop is a multi-scale reliability analysis framework, which ranges from nationwide bridge-surveys, global structural integrity analysis, and structural component reliability analysis. This Nationwide bridge survey uses deep-learning techniques to evaluate the bridge …

The Effects Of Eating Disorders And Menstrual Irregularity On Bone Mineral Density In Sorority Women: A Cross-Sectional Study, Rachel Robertson

Honors Theses

Past research has reported bone loss among women diagnosed with eating disorders as a direct result of estrogen imbalance (Cobb et al., 2003; Gibson et al., 1999; Kim et al., 2012; Zuckerman-Levin et al., 2014). Menstrual irregularity may result from estrogen imbalance, which is characteristic of an eating disorder and ultimately causes bone loss. Past studies have focused on this three-way relationship between eating disorders, menstrual irregularity, and bone mineral density (BMD) specifically in female athletes (Cobb et al., 2003; Gibson, Mitchell, Reeve, & Harries, 1999) but rarely in recreationally trained or sedentary females. Previous research has also focused on …

Understanding Effective Venues Of Women Representation In Latin America: An Empirical Study Of Millennium Development Goals 3 And 5, Sheila Arun Kumar

Honors Theses

Recent research concerning women and politics focuses on identifying what factors cause and stimulate women participation in politics. This thesis uses the indicators for Millennium Development Goals 3 and 5 as a measurement basis for an empirical study to determine if certain factors effect women participation in Latin American politics. Data for these goals, to Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women and Improve Maternal Health, were collected for various Latin American countries across a 2000-2015 time series. Along with this data collection, this thesis focuses on testing two specific factors to determine their effectiveness on women representation in Latin America. …

Memory In The Fingers: An Exploration Of Knitting Through The Lens Of Modern Knitters' Lives, Sinclair Rishel

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the history of knitting through the lens of modern knitters' lives. Information about the history of knitting was gathered from various printed and online sources. A series of interviews were conducted with knitters of different ages, experience levels, professions, and socioeconomic circles. Among these were beginning knitters, casual knitters, semi-professional knitters, professional knitters, and a knitting celebrity. The interviewees were asked about their knitting lives, including personal history, motives, preferences, and habits. Using the research and the interviews to inform each other, the researcher compiled a report on each subject which included their responses and the historical …

Fall 2016 Supplement To Brauneis & Schechter, Copyright: A Contemporary Approach, Robert Brauneis, Roger E. Schechter

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This cumulative supplement contains additional materials for Brauneis and Schechter, Copyright: A Contemporary Approach (1st ed. 2012) that make it current through July 2016. Special features include a hyperlinked table of references to 19 recent cases decided since July 2015, which may be helpful in getting an overview of developments over this past year; a hyperlinked table of contents to all inserts; and a chapter-by-chapter guide to using the supplement, intended for professors who are creating or updating syllabi. The supplement contains nine principal cases with notes, as well as dozens of other updates.

What's Warren Buffett's Secret To Great Writing?, Lawrence A. Cunningham

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The gold standard in corporate communications is that of Warren Buffett’s letters to shareholders. When leaders of the National Association of Corporate Directors wanted to understand exactly why they are so valuable, they turned to Lawrence Cunningham, an incomparably informed and knowledgeable expert on the subject, having since 1995 been Buffett’s handpicked compiler and editor of The Essays Warren Buffett: Lessons for Corporate America. The editors of NACD’s quarterly, Directorship, published Cunningham’s article as their cover story in the summer of 2016. They explained:

The legendary chair and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has nearly perfected the art of writing his …

Double Deference In Administrative Law, Emily Hammond

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Administrative law presumes a neat system of agency rulemaking and adjudication followed by judicial review. But the reality of the administrative state departs starkly from this model. One such departure is the use of audited self-regulatory organizations (SROs) -- private organizations comprised of specific industries that formulate binding law to regulate themselves. Although SROs operate subject to the oversight of federal agencies, their power is vast, reaching significant swaths of the national and international economies. There is little to constitutionally constrain such arrangements, and whereas the administrative law model values the norms of participation, deliberation, and transparency, the procedures used …

Technological Innovation, Data Analytics, And Environmental Enforcement, Robert L. Glicksman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Technical innovation is ubiquitous in contemporary society and contributes to its extraordinarily dynamic character. Sometimes these innovations have significant effects on the state of the environment or on human health and they have stimulated efforts to develop second order technologies to ameliorate those effects. The development of the automobile and its impact on life in the United States and throughout the world is an example. The story of modern environmental regulation more generally includes chapters filled with examples of similar efforts to respond to an enormous array of technological advances.

This Article uses a different lens to consider the role …

Introduction. A New Field: Comparative Law And Regulation, Francesca Bignami

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The contemporary regulatory process is global. Markets and the problems they generate—consumer privacy, chemicals safety, and many others—cross borders and so too do regulatory efforts to address those problems. The process, however, by which national and international jurisdictions decide common regulatory problems defies the traditional mold of hierarchical state law. There is no world government with the power to impose a single set of principles and procedures on the multiple jurisdictions, and therefore the global regulatory process is characterized as much by diversity and discord as it is by coordination and convergence.

The new field of comparative law and regulation …

Regulation And The Courts: Judicial Review In Comparative Perspective, Francesca Bignami

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

After a historical survey of the literature, this chapter puts forward a new analytical scheme to capture variation in comparative judicial review. The earliest, and still relevant, classification developed in the scholarly literature turns on the difference between judicial review of administrative action by the ordinary courts in the English common law and by a special body (Conseil d’Etat) connected to the executive branch in the French droit administratif. This is followed chronologically by the contrast that has been drawn by Robert Kagan and public-choice scholars between the litigious and formal American system of law and public policy and the …

Introductory Chapter To Elgar Encyclopedia Of Environmental Law: Decisionmaking In Environmental Law, Robert L. Glicksman, Lee C. Paddock

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the growth of environmental law and the decision making structures that governments have developed to adopt, administer, and enforce it. It traces the manner in which cooperative federalism and public participation have affected decision making structures in environmental law, primarily in the United States. It summarizes key challenges that policymakers continue to face in designing environmental laws, including choices on the allocation of authority among different levels of government, the appropriate mix of regulatory and non-regulatory tools to use in environmental protection initiatives, efforts to accommodate environmental protection and economic growth objectives, techniques …

The Case For Symmetry In Antidiscrimination Law, Naomi Schoenbaum

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Antidiscrimination law faces a fundamental design question: the choice between symmetry and asymmetry. A symmetrical law prohibits discrimination on the basis of a trait for a universal class of persons, and for both “sides” of the trait. An asymmetrical law prohibits discrimination on the basis of one “side” of the trait, and for a limited class of persons. Current law is inconsistent in its design. For example, employment discrimination law prohibits race discrimination symmetrically (everyone is protected, and on the basis of any race), but prohibits disability discrimination asymmetrically (only the disabled are protected, and only on the basis of …

Towards A Law Of Coworkers, Naomi Schoenbaum

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

A growing body of research reveals what most Americans already know from experience: that our coworkers play a central role in our lives. The significance of coworker relationships is only magnified in an era of expanding work hours in the twenty-four-seven economy. But the law does not reflect this reality, and instead relegates coworkers to the status of legal strangers. This Article argues that the law’s failure to recognize coworker relationships undermines not only these relationships, but also the goals of work law, and makes the case for a law of coworker relationships that would promote the equal, fair, and …

Causal Responsibility And Patent Infringement, Dmitry Karshtedt

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

It is not uncommon for multiple parties in the stream of commerce — manufacturers, distributors, end users — to be involved in the infringement of a single patent. Yet courts continue to struggle with such scenarios. Attempts to deal with them — particularly when plaintiffs asserted so-called method patents, which cover specific “steps,” or actions — have produced results that defy commonsense notions of legal responsibility. In method patent cases, the patentee must clear much higher legal hurdles to prevail against a manufacturer who designed and supplied an infringing device than against an end user who simply bought that device …

Photocopies, Patents, And Knowledge Transfer: 'The Uneasy Case' Of Justice Breyer's Patentable Subject Matter Jurisprudence, Dmitry Karshtedt

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

One aspect of Justice Stephen Breyer’s discomfort with patents, as expressed in his opinion for the Supreme Court in Mayo v. Prometheus and his dissent from the order dismissing certiorari in LabCorp v. Metabolite, is strikingly similar to one of his critiques of copyright law in The Uneasy Case for Copyright, a well-known article he wrote as Professor Breyer more than forty-five years ago. In The Uneasy Case, Breyer argued that the burdens on duplication of technical articles imposed by copyright law restrict the flow of information and prevent scientists from enjoying spillover benefits of published research. His patent opinions …

Using The Student-Edited Law Review To Teach Critical Professional Skills, Karen Thornton

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

At a time when law schools are being urged to add experiential learning opportunities to their curricula, law reviews may have been overlooked because the need is so obvious. Producing a journal is a professional endeavor requiring leadership by student editors who are in the process of forging their professional identity. Law schools have a responsibility to teach critical professional skills as part of the pedagogy to shape future lawyers. This article summarizes the need for law schools to provide experiential learning opportunities, unpacks the criticism faculty authors have heaped on student-led law reviews, and the describes a symposium-style training …

The Level Of Nmda Receptor In The Membrane Modulates Amyloid-Β Association And Perforation, Christian Peters, Fernando J. Sepúlveda, Eduardo Fernández-Pérez, Robert W. Peoples, Luis G. Aguayo

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects mostly the elderly. The main histopathological markers are the senile plaques formed by amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) aggregates that can perforate the plasma membrane of cells, increasing the intracellular calcium levels and releasing synaptic vesicles that finally lead to a delayed synaptic failure. Several membrane proteins and lipids interact with Aβ affecting its toxicity in neurons. Here, we focus on NMDA receptors (NMDARs) as proteins that could be modulating the association and neurotoxic perforation induced by Aβ on the plasma membrane. In fact, our results showed that decreasing NMDARs, using enzymatic or siRNA …

Modeling Of Selection Of Supply Sources For Hospitals, Siva Raghava Sai Rohith Valiveti

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Most of the hospitals in the USA carry out their purchasing of supplies, including pharmaceuticals, through Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO). GPO is an organization, which aggregates procuring volumes of their member hospitals and negotiates low prices from manufacturers or vendors. According to 2013 statistics, 98% of hospitals in U.S. are purchasing their bulk health care products through GPOs, and it saves U.S. health care industry approximately $36 billion annually. Through these hospitals enjoy advantages by purchasing through their GPOs, there are some disadvantages such as paying membership fees to their GPOs, restricting the purchasing power of the hospitals outside their …

A New Way To Estimate The Potential Unmet Need For Infertility Services Among Women In The United States, Arthur L. Greil, Kathleen S. Slauson-Blevins, Stacy Tiemeyer, Julia Mcquilan, Karina M. Shreffler

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Background: Fewer than 50% of women who meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility receive medical services. Estimating the number of women who both meet the medical/behavioral criteria for infertility and who have pro-conception attitudes will allow for better estimates of the potential need and unmet need for infertility services in the United States.

Methods: The National Survey of Fertility Barriers was administered by telephone to a probability sample of 4,712 women in the United States. The sample for this analysis was 292 women who reported an experience of infertility within 3 years of the time of the interview. Infertile women …

Extreme Minimum Wages: Effects On The U.S. Hotel Industry, John O'Neill, Sean P. Mcginley

ICHRIE Research Reports

The subject report analyzes literature regarding minimum wages to explore the potential effects of what could be described as extreme increases in the minimum wage on the American hotel industry. The current presidential administration as well as several large municipalities are actively seeking, or recently passed laws that increase the minimum wage by an extreme amount. The subject report quantifies the forecasted effect on the U.S. hotel industry. The study concludes that the hotel industry in the U.S. would have a negative economic impact estimated at $2.53 billion if the current national minimum wage proposal is approved.Min

International Protection Of Free Trade In Procurement Under Nafta’S Chapter 10 On Public Procurement: The Pathway From Nafta To Wto Government Procurement Agreement To A Potential European-Us Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership, Christopher R. Yukins

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which entered into force on 1 January 1994, is an agreement between Mexico, Canada and the United States to ensure that covered goods and services fall under a comprehensive free trade agreement among the three countries. NAFTA included, in Chapter 10, provisions opening up many aspects of the parties’ procurement markets. As a practical matter, however, NAFTA’s procurement-related provisions have largely been overshadowed by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), which includes the United States, Canada, and many other member parties, but not Mexico. Perhaps in part because Canada …

Zero Rating And The Holy Grail: Universal Standards For Net Neutrality, Arturo J. Carrillo

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

This chapter challenges the prevailing consensus among most academics, activists and policymakers that uniform normative definitions and standards for net neutrality and zero-rating – the Holy Grail of policymaking - do not yet exist. But it turns out the Holy Grail does exist. Using examples drawn from ongoing experiences in Latin America, I demonstrate that the existing international human rights law framework is an appropriate and adequate source for uniform universal standards on net neutrality. Using case studies from Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, I show how the application of relevant human rights standards contributes to effectively implementing and protecting net …