Digital Commons Network^™

A New Threat To The Viability Of Campaign Contribution Limits, Brent Ferguson

Emory Law Journal Online

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that it violates the First Amendment to prevent political candidates from coordinating with outside spending groups like Super PACs if the groups' ads do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. The decision is erroneous under federal precedent and fundamentally misunderstands the Supreme Court's holdings distinguishing between independent spending and spending coordinated with a candidate. Wisconsin's regulatory scheme will be largely inoperable for the time being: Contribution limits will be fairly meaningless, at least for sophisticated actors who seek to circumvent them. And the logic of the decision leads to …

The Case In Favor Of Civil Justice Reform, Victor E. Schwartz, Cary Silverman

Emory Law Journal Online

In October 2015, Emory University School of Law hosted a provocatively titled symposium, 'The `War' on the U.S. Civil Justice System.' The program was co-sponsored by the Pound Civil Justice Institute, a 'think tank' founded and controlled by leaders of the plaintiffs' bar that advocates for expansions in liability through presenting legal education seminars and publishing papers. The introduction to the symposium edition waxes nostalgic for the civil justice system of '[a] half-century ago,' which was 'a much-admired, well-organized process for resolving disputes, generally in public, before juries and independent judges.' As this Essay will show, at that time, the …

Fixing The Federal Judicial Selection Process, Carl Tobias

Emory Law Journal Online

Federal court selection is eviscerated. Across five years in Barack Obama's presidency, the judiciary confronted some eighty-five vacancies because Republicans never agreed to prompt Senate consideration. Over 2015, the GOP cooperated little, approving the fewest jurists since Dwight Eisenhower was President. However, selection might worsen. This year is a presidential election year, a period in which confirmations traditionally slow to a halt, and a predicament that controversy regarding Justice Antonin Scalia's High Court vacancy exacerbates. At the next inauguration, the bench may experience 100 unfilled circuit and trial level positions. These concerns demonstrate that the broken appointments system requires permanent …

Telling Refugee Stories: Trauma, Credibility, And The Adversarial Adjudication Of Claims For Asylum, Stephen Paskey

Journal Articles

When trauma survivors seek asylum in the United States, the deck is stacked against them. In most cases, the applicant’s story is the only direct evidence of the applicant’s claim, and asylum is certain to be denied if a judge finds the applicant not credible. But the stories told by trauma survivors defy cultural norms for a credible story: they are often inconsistent, vague, and both logically and chronologically disjointed. As a result, asylum may be wrongly denied. The problem is inherent in our asylum adjudication system, which subjects most applicants to an adversarial hearing.

This article uses scholarship on …

A Conservation Genetic Study Of Cercopithecus Mitis In The Lomami Basin, Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Ailissa Leroy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The Cercopithecus mitis radiation has significant phenotypic and ecological diversity, making it a great candidate for evolutionary genetic studies. This study represents the first genetic survey of C. mitis from well provenanced wild populations, including C. mitis heymansi from the TL2 landscape, an area of remote tropical forest between the Tshuapa, Lomami, and Lualaba rivers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tissue samples were collected from 7 male blue monkeys, DNA was extracted and surveyed at 919 bp of the Testis-Specific Protein Y-chromosome (TSPY), and added to a larger dataset including other C. mitis and C. albogularis specimens. Evolutionary …

A Case Study Of The Reported Use Of Metacognitive Reading Strategies By Postsecondary Instructors Of Developmental Reading Courses With Struggling Adult Readers To Increase Comprehension, Audrita Drayton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This qualitative research study examined developmental reading instructors' reported use of metacognitive reading strategies as well as what other approaches they used to improve and increase the reading comprehension of their struggling adult readers. The researcher collected data using two interviews per participant and document analyses. Although studies have deemed metacognitive reading strategies effective in increasing the reading comprehension of struggling readers, the results indicated that the participants did not typically instruct their struggling adult readers in the use of metacognitive reading strategies. The implications for the study were related to instructional practice in developmental reading courses, policy changes, and …

Can I Ask For Help? The Relationship Among Incarcerated Males’ Sexual Orientation, Incarceration History, And Perceptions Of Rape In Prison, Mina Ratkalkar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

In 2003, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act to address the problem of sexual violence in prison. Although research has shed light on the prevalence and incidence of sexual violence in U.S. prisons, few studies examine inmates’ perceptions of rape and safety from rape in prison. This study examined rape perceptions and the likelihood to seek mental health treatment in prison of three distinct groups of male inmates who are at greater risk of sexual victimization or exposure to sexual violence while incarcerated: gay and bisexual inmates, inmates with a juvenile incarceration history, and inmates who were first incarcerated …

Channel Assignment In Cognitive Radio Wireless Networks, Yueshi Wu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Cognitive radio technology that enables dynamic spectrum access has been a promising solution for the spectrum scarcity problem. Cognitive radio networks enable the communication on both licensed and unlicensed channels, having the potential to better solve the interference and collision issues. Channel assignment is of great importance in cognitive radio networks. When operating on licensed channels, the objective is to exploit spectrum holes through cognitive communication, giving priority to the primary users. In this dissertation, we focus on the development of efficient channel assignment algorithms and protocols to improve network performance for cognitive radio wireless networks. The first contribution is …

Benthic Foraminiferal Assemblages From Pulau Karangmadjat, Mentawai Islands, Indonesia, Christine N. Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Globally, coral reefs are in severe decline (Jackson et al., 2001) and face potential extinction of 1/3 of reef species by 2050 (Veron, 2011). This decline is the result of the inability of coral communities to recover after disturbance events, often resulting in a shift from coral- to macro-algal dominated regimes. Reef resources managers are in need of tools to assess the condition of these ecosystems prior to, during, and post disturbance, especially in regions of the world where coral cover and diversity are high, yet management resources are scarce. Foraminifera have been widely utilized as bioindicators in both modern …

Chitin Microparticles (Cmps) Induce M1 Macrophage Activation Via Intracellular Tlr2 Signaling Mechanism, Spring Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Chitin Microparticles (CMPs, 1-10um), a special form of the ubiquitous and nontoxic polysaccharide Chitin (GlcNAc), is capable of inducing a switch in macrophages from the wound-healing M2 phenotype to the classically activated pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype; which has therapeutic implications in allergy and cancer. We hypothesized that TLR2 forms a complex with CMPs and Chitin-Binding Proteins (CBPs) at the surface of peritoneal macrophages and remains with that complex after internalization to initiate downstream signaling events, leading to the production of the M1 cytokine, TNFalpha. Our results from experiments performed in RAW 264.7 cells show that TLR2 and TLR1, but not TLR6, …

An Algorithm For The Automated Interpretation Of Cardiac Auscultation, Claude Lieber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Cardiac auscultation, an important part of the physical examination, is difficult for many primary care providers. As a result, diagnoses are missed or auscultatory signs misinterpreted. A reliable, automated means of interpreting cardiac auscultation should be of benefit to both the primary care provider and to patients. This paper explores a novel approach to this problem and develops an algorithm that can be expanded to include all the necessary electronics and programming to develop such a device. The algorithm is explained and its shortcomings exposed. The potential for further development is also expounded.

Allusions, Khaulah Naima Nuruddin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Allusions explores the volatile nature of intimate relationships by revisiting and recovering my memory of dramatic experiences in my own intimate relationships then translating them into painted psychological scenes. These scenes are activated by symbolically charged objects and interrupted by openings or portals serving as points of entry or exit. The people involved are referred to by pieces of carefully chosen furniture situated in a space that has shifting perspectives and illogical planes, referencing the complexity of memory and the subjectivity of experience. Discordant color, texture, and layered information are used to heighten the drama of the moment. These painted …

A Study On The Potential Role Of Stress Granules And Processing Bodies In Eliminating Oxidatively Damaged Rna, Delaram Pourkalbassi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Oxidative stress (OS) is strongly implicated in age-related neurodegeneration and other diseases. Under OS, the production of excessive oxidants leads to increased damages to cellular components. Recently, RNA has been discovered as a major target of oxidative damage, including the creation of abasic sites. In this work, we developed a method for quantifying abasic RNA in cell. Using this method, we have examined the potential role of the RNA-processing cellular foci, stress granule (SG) and processing bodies (PB) in eliminating abasic RNA in situ. We demonstrated that RNA is a major target of oxidative damage, constituting the majority of OS-induced …

All In The Family: A Legacy Of Public Service And Engagement - Edward And Thomas Fairchild, R. Nils Olsen Jr.

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Assessment Of Changes In Precipitation Data Characteristics Due To Infilling By Spatially Interpolated Estimates, Mohammad Hachmi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Spatial and temporal interpolation methods are commonly used methods for estimating missing precipitation rain gauge data based on values recorded at neighboring gauges. However, these interpolation methods have not been comprehensively checked for their ability to preserve time series characteristics. Assessing the preservation of time series characteristics helps achieving a threshold criteria of length of gaps in a data set that is acceptable to be filled. This study evaluates the efficacy of optimal weighting interpolation for estimation of missing data in preserving time series characteristics. Rain gauges in the state of Kentucky are used as a case study. Several model …

Between Rock Cairns And Charm Stones: An Examination Of Women’S Access To Healing Roles In California Hunter-Gatherer Groups, Ashley Hampton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the validity of previous theories concerning women’s access to roles of power within hunter-gatherer societies. This study examines how accurately immanent social identity theory and bifurcated role circumstantiality predict women’s access to the role of healer (shaman) within California hunter-gatherer groups. A sample of 27 California hunter-gatherer groups was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Notably, chi-square tests of independence evinced a correlation between men’s and women’s circumstantial labor and observed healer gender. Through the statistical verification of such engendered ideas, this study tests notions concerning the strict binary division of …

Assessing Situations On Social Media: Temporal, Demographic, And Personality Influences On Situation Experience, David G. Serfass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Social media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites: Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses are analyzed. Temporal patterns of situational experiences are found. Geographic and gender differences in experience are examined. Relationships between personality and situation …

Coming Soon From A Screen Near You: The Camera’S Gaze In The Age Of Surveillance, Fayez Kloub

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Within the past thirty years, privacy concerns among American citizens are rising with counter-terrorist surveillance going beyond targeting people of interest. These concerns are reflected in American cinema where many contemporary films have explored surveillance in society. The textual analyses presented in the thesis will focus on three such films, Strange Days (1995), Southland Tales (2005), and Nightcrawler (2014). Throughout this thesis, I examine how each of these films offers a unique, reflexive take on surveillance, adhering to generative mechanisms that evoke differing attitudes about surveillance through their form. My analysis draws on Laura Mulvey and Patricia Pisters’ theories on …

Approaching Authentic Assessment: Using Virtual School Teachers’ Expertise To Develop An Understanding Of Full Time K-8 Virtual School Teacher Practices, Christina Lambert Seamster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

According to Molnar (2014), full time virtual school education lacks a measurement tool that accurately measures effective virtual teacher practice. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the current study sought to understand the common practices among full time K-8 virtual school teachers, the extent to which teachers believed such practices impacted student learning, as well as the methods in which current standards, recommendations and practices were implemented in the full time K-8 virtual school setting. The relationship between virtual school teacher practices and their Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) was also explored. Using the standards, practices and recommendations developed …

An Inquiry Into Fire Service Consolidation And The Economies Of Scale Debate: The Centralization Versus Decentralization Argument, Iii Salvatore A D’Angelo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Addressing the current homeland security challenges requires scholars, practitioners, elected officials, and community partners working in unison to mitigate the hazards confronting first responders. Built on public choice theory, this research addressed a specific component of the emergency preparedness matrix: the most preferred fire service organizational design. The fire department organizational designs in this study included a Florida county, city, and independent special control fire district (ISFCD) that serve residents on a full-time platform. The concurrent embedded methodology used attempted to unearth which organizational design achieves economies of scale based on quarterly emergency service calls: the centralized county model or …

A Whiteheadian Interpretation Of The Zoharic Creation Story, Michael Gold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This dissertation presents a Whiteheadian interpretation of the notions of mind, immanence and process as they are addressed in the Zohar. According to many scholars, this kabbalistic creation story as portrayed in the Zohar is a reaction to the earlier rabbinic concept of God qua creator, which emphasized divine transcendence over divine immanence. The medieval Jewish philosophers, particularly Maimonides influenced by Aristotle, placed particular emphasis on divine transcendence, seeing a radical separation between Creator and creation. With this in mind, these scholars claim that one of the goals of the Zohar’s creation story was to emphasize God’s immanence within creation. …

Aggressive Behaviors Of Adult Male Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (Stenella Frontalis) During Intraspecific And Interspecific Aggressive Interactions, Cassandra L. Volker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are two sympatric species resident to the Bahamas. The visibility of the Bahamian water provided a unique opportunity to study spotted dolphin communication during aggression. This study’s main focus was to decipher any similarities or differences in the behaviors used by spotted dolphins during interspecific and intraspecific aggression. Both similarities and differences were discovered. Biting, following, and chasing behavioral events were used more during interspecific aggression, while the display behavioral class was used more than the contact behavioral class during intrabut not interspecific aggression. This study showed that spotted dolphins …

An Assessment Of Leadership Practice In High Schools: Improving Graduation Rates, Maria Eugenia Osorio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This research was based on a multi-case study design focused on the leadership practice of high school principals and assistant principals and their roles in improving graduation rates. The study sought to answer one overarching research questions: In schools that demonstrate an increase in graduation rates what leadership practices are evidenced in principals and assistant principals and teacher leaders. One sub-question addressed the tools and interventions that the leadership team practices in relation to improving graduation rates and the second sub-question addressed the accountability of changing standards with respect to graduation rates. A third sub-question sought to answer how interactions …

An Analysis Of High-Performing Science Students’ Preparation For Collegiate Sciences Courses, Karen Walter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This mixed-method study surveyed first year high-performing science students who participated in high-level courses such as International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), and honors science courses in high school to determine their perception of preparation for academic success at the collegiate level. The study used 52 students from an honors college campus and surveyed the students and their professors. The students reported that they felt better prepared for academic success at the collegiate level by taking these courses in high school (p<.001). There was a significant negative correlation between perception of preparation and student GPA with honors science courses (n=55 and Pearson’s r=-0.336), while AP courses (n=47 and Pearson’s r=0.0016) and IB courses (n=17 and Pearson’s r=-0.2716) demonstrated no correlation between perception of preparation and GPA. Students reported various themes that helped or hindered their perception of academic success once at the collegiate level. Those themes that reportedly helped students were preparedness, different types of learning, and teacher qualities. Students reported in a post-hoc experience that more lab time, rigorous coursework, better teachers, and better study techniques helped prepare them for academic success at the collegiate level. Students further reported on qualities of teachers and teaching that helped foster their academic abilities at the collegiate level, including teacher knowledge, caring, teaching style, and expectations. Some reasons for taking high-level science courses in high school include boosting GPA, college credit, challenge, and getting into better colleges.

Elevated Pco2 Effects On The Macroalgal Genus Halimeda: Potential Roles Of Photophysiology And Morphology, Katherine Peach

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

While ocean acidification (OA) is predicted to inhibit calcification in marine macroalgae, species whose photosynthesis is limited by current dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) levels may benefit. Furthermore, variations in macroalgal morphology will likely give rise to a range of OA tolerance in calcifying macroalgae. One genus of calcifying macroalgae that has shown varying species’ tolerance to OA is Halimeda, a major carbonate sediment producer on tropical reefs. Species within this genus occupy a range of habitats within tropical environments (reefs and lagoons), illustrating their ability to adapt to diverse environmental conditions (e.g. carbonate chemistry, irradiance). To date it is not …

Establishing The Bondmother: Examining The Categorization Of Maternal Figures In Toni Morrison’S Beloved And Paradise, Ashely Tisdale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Literary scholars have been examining and recreating the experiences of “bonded” female characters within Toni Morrison’s novels for decades. However, the distinct experiences of these enslaved women, that are also mothers have not been astutely examined by scholars and deserves more attention. My thesis fleshes out the characterization of several of Morrison’s bonded-mothers and identifies them as a part of a developing controlling image and theory, called the bondmother. Situating these characters within this category allows readers to trace their journeys towards freedom and personal redemption. This character tracing will occur by examining the following Toni Morrison novels: Beloved (1987) …

Exploring The College Choice And Sense Of Belonging Of Haitian Students At A Highly Selective Hbcu, Paul-Arthur Pierre-Louis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The growing Haitian population in the United States is directly affecting all institutions of higher education As institutions continue to diversify across the country, HBCUs are also responding to this trend According to Ricard and Brown (2008), HBCUs are changing in order to keep up with the growing demand of institutional diversity, and they recognize that having a diversified student body will make the institutions more competitive Although their historic mission focuses on educating Black students, there remains a gap in the literature on HBCUs on one of the largest Black groups in the United States: the Haitian immigrant In …

Evaluating The Kinetics Of Proinflammatory Immune Responses To Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection In Rhesus Macaques By Transcriptional Analysis, Michael Cartwright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Understanding the host response immediately following mucosal HIV-1 infection will be pivotal in determining whether the immune response induced by a vaccine will successfully sense and control viral replication. In order for effective vaccine strategies and modalities to be developed, these earliest immunological events must be fully assessed in a non-biased manner. Nonhuman primates (NHP), specifically Rhesus macaques (RM), serve as a model to investigate the immunological landscape immediately post-challenge and to define the spatiotemporal path of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). SIV infection of RM serves as a model of human HIV infection as it recapitulates many of the virological, …

Gender, Myth, And Warfare: A Cross-Cultural Analysis Of Women Warriors, Anne-Louise Lyttle Boomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

A combination of cross-cultural and symbolic methodologies suggests that women warriors occur in societies where there is both an emphasis on the sacred feminine that allows women greater access to positions of power and authority (as per Peggy Sanday) and where marital residency rules permit female fighters (following David B. Adams´s theory on women warriors). While neither theory can stand alone in explaining the existence of women warriors, when combined both theories give a solid picture of societies that allow for female combatants. In this paper I propose that by combining Sanday’s work on female power and Adams’s work on …

Fostering Creativity Using Special Library Collections: A Case Study Of The Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center For The Book Arts, Andrew D. Binder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This dissertation examines the Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center for the Book Arts (JCBA) at Florida Atlantic University, focusing on creativity. Sixteen artists whose artwork is collected by the center were chosen to provide an overview of the creative process of book artists: Susan Allix, Julie Chen, Béatrice Coron, Johanna Drucker, Timothy Ely, Karen Hanmer, Linda K. Johnson, Marie Marcano, Bea Nettles, Matthew Reinhart, Robert Sabuda, Susan Joy Share, Keith Smith, Beth Thielen, Carol Todaro, and Marshall Weber. The artists and the JCBA were selected for this study not only because these artists‘ books provide a unique opportunity to explore …