Digital Commons Network^™

If We Don’T Bring Them To Court, The Terrorists Will Have Won: Reinvigorating The Anti-Terrorist Act And General Jurisdiction In A Post-Daimler Era, Stephen J. Digregoria

Brooklyn Law Review

Prior to the Supreme Court's recent general personal jurisdiction decisions in Daimler AG v. Bauman and Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations S.A. v. Brown American terror victims, injured in terror attacks abroad, were able to bring their attackers and those who sponsor them into United States courts for relief. Specifically, groups like the Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (the PA) had a history of being sued by American victims of terror. In the course of these suits, the PLO and the PA were regularly found subject to the personal jurisdiction of U.S. courts under a theory of …

The Effects Of Notch Geometry On Fracture Testing Of Asphalt Concrete, Rebekah Porter

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Asphalt concrete is commonly used as the surface layer on pavements because of its convenience, low cost, and smooth ride (Wagoner, 2005). However, there is a significant problem with the cracking and deterioration of asphalt concrete roads. The initiation of cracking in asphalt must be better understood in order to further improve pavement design. Fracture energy is the amount of energy needed to separate two surfaces. The semi circular bend (SCB) test can be used to measure the fracture energy of asphalt concrete. Currently, this method uses a semicircular specimen with a rectangular notch in a three-point bend compression test. …

Parasocial Relationships With Transgender Characters And Attitudes Toward Transgender Individuals, Lizhen Zhao

Dissertations - ALL

The transgender population lives in a condition of serious discrimination, poverty and violence (NCTE, 2014). Few studies, however, have been conducted to understand people’s attitudes toward this population and factors that affect the responses. Applying the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis (Schiappa, Gregg & Hewes, 2005), this thesis investigated the relationship between audiences’ positive and negative parasocial relationships with transgender characters in TV and their attitudes toward transgender people in real life. A survey method was employed to address research questions and test hypothesis. Results show a significant association between parasocial relationship (positive or negative) and attitudes toward trans people in real …

The Competing Risks Of Prepayment And Default On The Single-Family Mortgage Market, Ran An

Dissertations - ALL

This study contains three chapters. Since the subprime crisis, it has become increasingly important to understand the competing risks of prepayment and default on the single-family mortgage market. This research studies the economic factors that affect the competing risks of prepayment and default in locations where the aggregate of the prepayment risk and the default risk are simultaneously high.

Chapter 1 outlines the analysis based on thirty-year, fixed-rate, single-family mortgages in five Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs): Phoenix, Miami, Tampa, Detroit and Las Vegas. These MSAs are chosen from a sample Single-family Loan-Level Dataset constructed by Freddie Mac based on high …

Achieving Public Long-Term Care Insurance Through Social Security Wealth: Microsimulation For The Us Case, Alexandre Genest

Dissertations - ALL

The risk of needing long-term care (LTC) at some point in one's life is non-negligible, and the cost of care–whether in formal or informal settings– can be prohibitive for many seniors. In fact LTC is sometimes labeled the last major uninsured expense for seniors in the United States. The majority of LTC costs are currently borne by Medicaid and out-of-pocket spending, while private insurance coverage remains minimal. The take-up of private insurance among American seniors has remained low, in part because of the large (and growing) cost of premiums, as well as the presence of Medicaid. As the payer of …

Biodegradable Thermoplastic Elastomers And Smart Composites, Erin Mcmullin

Dissertations - ALL

There is a need for biodegradable thermoplastic elastomers for a variety of medical applications. This dissertation aims at (i) developing and characterizing biodegradable elastomers and (ii) developing and characterizing biodegradable smart composites, both to be used as biomaterials. First, in Chapter 1, an overview was given of the literature of relevant background information on polymers, biomaterials, and previous biodegradable elastomers and responsive elastomeric systems.

The first biodegradable elastomer developed and investigated, as presented in Chapter 2, is a novel thermoplastic polyurethane that has a biodegradable soft segment and a crystalline hard segment (POSS). By varying the composition of the poly(caprolactone)-based …

Reacting To Negative Self-Relevant Information In An Interpersonal Context, Mingxuan Tan

Dissertations - ALL

Using a newly developed perspective provided by cross-cultural research, the concept of face, I conducted three experiments to examine the impact self-construal, feedback source and interpersonal contexts have on one’s reactions to negative self-relevant information. In these experiments, characteristics of contexts including audience’s status, audience’s standard, audience’s performance and publicness of the situation were manipulated to examine participants’ reactions to feedback pertaining to an ostensibly important ability. These experiments revealed that compared to the interdependent self-construal, the independent self-construal was associated with higher levels of self-serving responses. These self-serving responses include attributing failure to external factors and attributing success to …

Aftermarket Supermarket | A Speculative Retrospective, Alexander Kim

Architecture Senior Theses

In the preface to Delusive Spaces: Essays on Culture, Media and Technology, media theorist Eric Kluitenberg writes that “the delusion of the new”1 pollutes our theorizations of new media. This sort of technocratic fetishization of emergent technologies can only amount to a surfatial investigation of its effects or capabilities. Architectural investigations of virtual reality and other new media systems suffer from this tendency as well. Content-based experimentation and criticism obsess over the simultaneously exciting and daunting prospects of what we can now do or make with recent digital developments. There’s definite value in such endeavors, but frankly, in the grand …

Deep Feature Transfer Learning In Combination With Traditional Features Predicts Survival Among Patients With Lung Adenocarcinoma, Rahul Paul, Samuel H. Hawkings, Matthew B. Schabath, Robert J. Gilies, Lawrence O. Hall, Dmitry Goldgof

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. It can be detected and diagnosed using computed tomography images. For an automated classifier, identifying predictive features from medical images is a key concern. Deep feature extraction using pretrained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has recently been successfully applied in some image domains. Here, we applied a pretrained CNN to extract deep features from 40 computed tomography images, with contrast, of non-small cell adenocarcinoma lung cancer, and combined deep features with traditional image features and trained classifiers to predict short- and long-term survivors. We experimented with several pretrained …

Election Law And The Presidency: An Introduction And Overview, Jerry H. Goldfeder

Fordham Law Review

Americans now fully appreciate that presidential candidates are vying for a majority of the Electoral College votes, rather than the individual votes of constituents. Modern campaigns are organized around this goal, and commentators are focused on this reality. As a result, there has been an increased cry to reform the electoral process. After all, if every other public official in the land is elected by receiving more votes than their competitors, why should the President of the United States be elected in this apparently undemocratic fashion? The process appears even more unusual in that electors are chosen pursuant to state …

Third-Party And Independent Presidential Candidates: The Need For A Runoff Mechanism, Edward B. Foley

Fordham Law Review

Consider what 2016 might have looked like if this better electoral system had been in place. Bloomberg then could have entered the race without risking being a spoiler. In a three-way race—Bloomberg, Clinton, and Trump—Bloomberg might have fizzled out, leaving a two-way race between Clinton and Trump. Since that is essentially how the election ended up anyway, the country would have been no worse off for having had a chance to consider Bloomberg as an alternative. But suppose, however, with Trump’s candidacy spinning out of control in a series of unacceptable comments (as it appeared to do in early August),11 …

Ramshackle Federalism: America’S Archaic And Dysfunctional Presidential Election System, Anthony J. Gaughan

Fordham Law Review

Accordingly, this Article proposes five sensible and achievable reforms to modernize the presidential election system. Each requires Congress and the federal government to play a much more proactive role in the presidential election system. The Constitution may be founded on federalist principles, but excessive decentralization is not serving us well in presidential election administration. In an age of tumultuous and accelerating change, the presidential election system must be modernized to meet the needs of twenty-first century America.

Fair Or Foul?: Sec Administrative Proceedings And Prospects For Reform Through Removal Legislation, Joseph A. Grundfest

Fordham Law Review

This Article catalogues the long list of criticisms of the Commission’s administrative proceedings. It also evaluates data describing the outcome of litigated matters and finds that, with the exception of insider trading cases, the Commission has an exceptionally high and statistically indistinguishable record of success in administrative and federal court proceedings alike. The data thus seem not to support the view that the Commission has a generalized home-court advantage in administrative proceedings. Nonetheless, the Commission’s virtually unfettered discretion in forum selection decisions, when it can assign cases to a forum that it controls, raises a plethora of institutional design concerns.

Now Is The Time!: Challenging Resegregation And Displacement In The Age Of Hypergentrification, Bethany Y. Li

Fordham Law Review

Gentrification is reaching a tipping point of resegregating urban space in global cities like New York and San Francisco, often spurred by seemingly neutral government policies. The displacement resulting from gentrification forces low-income people from their homes into areas of concentrated poverty. Low-income communities consequently lose space, place, social capital, and cultural wealth that residents and small businesses have spent decades building up. This Article argues that communities at this tipping point must integrate litigation strategies directly aimed at stemming the adverse impacts of gentrification. Community organizing is integral to antidisplacement efforts, but litigation—and its injunctive powers—should play a larger …

Consistently Inconsistent: What Is A Qualifying Investment Under Article 25 Of The Icsid Convention And Why The Debate Must End, Jeremy Marc Exelbert

Fordham Law Review

International investment has helped to pave the way for an increasingly globalized world community. Consequently, the International Centre for Settlement of Investor Disputes (ICSID)—existing under the mandate of the World Bank and with the stated purpose of increasing economic development abroad—has become the leading international arbitration mechanism currently available for settling disputes arising out of such investments. It is unsettling, therefore, that the interpretation of “investment” within article 25 of the ICSID Convention (the provision that determines whether an ICSID tribunal may exercise jurisdiction over a dispute) has given rise to a unique interpretive controversy because the ICSID Convention fails …

Accidental Vitiation: The Natural And Probable Consequence Of Rosemond V. United States On The Natural And Probable Consequence Doctrine, Evan Goldstick

Fordham Law Review

Recently, the Court decided Rosemond v. United States. In Rosemond, the Court had to determine the requisite mental state for aiding and abetting a particular federal crime. While the Court had the opportunity to weigh in on the natural and probable consequence doctrine in Rosemond, it declined to do so in footnote 7. This Note reviews the natural and probable consequence doctrine, its reception by courts and commentators, and the Court’s holding in Rosemond. This Note then applies the holding of Rosemond to several federal cases that employed the doctrine to determine whether, despite footnote 7, …

Show Me The Money: The Ceo Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule And The Quest For Effective Executive Compensation Reform, Biagio Marino

Fordham Law Review

This Note discusses past attempts to combat growing levels of executive compensation, analyzes the role of both shareholders and directors in the compensation-setting process, and discusses conflicting views concerning shareholder-director power, the disclosure mechanism, and the pay-ratio metric. Finally, this Note balances these views by proposing alterations to the CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Rule that preserve the long-standing corporate structure, while also offering shareholders an accountability mechanism to enhance the Rule’s intended results.

A Legal And Ethical Puzzle: Defense Counsel As Quasi Witness, Elizabeth Slater

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. criminal justice system is built on the concept of an adversarial trial. The defense and prosecution present competing narratives to a neutral audience that judges whether the prosecution has proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. In this context, defense counsel is expected to be a zealous advocate for the defendant, providing the most effective representation possible in light of the evidence presented by the government. However, there are occasions outside of trial where defense counsel’s traditional role changes and she is asked to disclose, not to the jury, but to the court, personal opinions and knowledge about …

Effects Of Feeding Field Peas On Fresh Beef Quality, Hope Voegele

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of field peas during two phases of production (grazing and finishing) on fresh beef quality. A total of 232 crossbred steers and heifers were randomly assigned to one of six dietary treatments in a 3x2 factorial consisting of 3 pasture and 2 finishing supplementations. The pasture phase consisted of 1) no supplement, 2) field peas at 0.5% BW, or 3) dry-rolled corn supplement at 0.5% of BW. The finishing phase consisted of 1) field peas at 20% DM or 2) no field peas. During this two-year study, steers (year 1) …

Managing Corn Residue And Double Cropped Forages In Crop And Livestock Systems, Kristen M. Ulmer

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Integrating crop and livestock systems leads to opportunities to utilize land resources; however, crop producers focus on grain yields and ground cover, while livestock producers see opportunity to graze corn residue or annual forages. After wheat harvest or corn silage harvest, above ground forage production for brassica mixes and oats is greater than forage oats or oat production after high moisture corn harvest. Grazing steers on forage crops after grain harvest provides moderate gains. While annual forages provide good quality forages, corn residue grazing and utilization is still a cost-effective feedstuff for cattle producers. In the short term, grain yields …

Effects Of Feed Additives And Body Weight On Growth Performance And Carcass Characteristics Of Beef Finishing Cattle, Curtis J. Bittner

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A pooled-analysis of feedlot pens examined the effects of steer age (calf-fed, short yearling, long yearling) and initial body weight on feedlot growth performance. Feed efficiency decreased linearly as initial body weight increased for all age groups of steers.

Three feedlot experiments evaluated the effects of NEXT ENHANCE (EO) and monensin/tylosin (MT) on growth performance and carcass characteristics in beef finishing diets. In Exp. 1, there were no MT x EO interactions for finishing performance and carcass characteristics. Feeding MT resulted in a 3.9% improvement in G:F compared to steers fed no MT. Feed efficiency was not different between steers …

Effects Of Field Pea Usage In Growing And Finishing Diets For Beef Cattle, Hannah L. Greenwell

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The value of field peas (FP) as a feedstuff has not been thoroughly assessed and compared to other feeds, such as corn, to better establish an economic value. Field peas are characterized by a high CP content (23-26%), a large portion (80%) being rumen degradable protein (RDP), and containing almost a third less starch (31-40%) than corn. Three research trials were performed to better understand the value of FP as a grazing supplement, finishing diet component, and any effects on digestion. Experiment 1 assessed the value of FP as a grazing supplement compared to corn. Grazing was followed by a …

December 2016 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Development Of An Analytical Model For Beams With Two Dimples In Opposing Directions, Mofareh H. Ghazwani

Masters Theses

Structures such as beams and steel plates can produce potentially high levels of unwanted vibrations and noises in the environment. A method of improving the vibration and acoustic characteristics of beams based on introducing dimples on its surfaces will be presented in this study. This method focuses on creating two dimples in the same and opposite direction on beam’s surface where the effect of dimples on the change in beam’s natural frequencies is the problems of interest.

A boundary value model (BVM) is developed for a beam with two dimples and subjected to various boundary conditions using Hamilton’s Variational Principle. …

The Influence Of Diet And Oxidation On Calcium Retention Of The Mitochondria In Fresh Beef, Emery K. Wilkerson

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Distillers grains (DG) contribute to cattle sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane instability by increasing poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content in the SR membrane, possibly resulting in early postmortem calcium (Ca) leakage and improved tenderness. Mitochondria are relatively easy to isolate intact and provide the opportunity to study Ca in an SR model. The objective of this research was to determine the influence of diet and oxidation on Ca release from mitochondria. Cattle (n = 48) were fed a corn-based finishing diet with or without deoiled, dried DG (50% DM basis). Steaks from each strip loin were aged for 2, 8, …

Making Sense Of Sound: Fourth Graders Use Physical And Technological Models To Illustrate And Explain The Nature And Characteristics Of Sound, Deepika Menon, Deanna Lankford

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

From the earliest days of their lives, children are exposed to all kinds of sound, from soft, comforting voices to the frightening rumble of thunder. Consequently, children develop their own naïve explanations largely based upon their experiences with phenomena encountered every day (Driver et al. 1994). When new information does not support existing conceptions, explanations are refashioned to agree with prior experiences, often resulting in misconceptions (Wesson 2001). Science education literature identifies multiple misconceptions related to sound commonly held by elementary students, including: Sound can only travel through air and not through solids and liquids; sound can travel through a …

A Brief Overview Of The Life And Work Of Lyon Henry Appleby, M.D. (1895-1970)., Jon Harrison, Michael J. Pucci, Scott W. Cowan, Charles Yeo

Department of Surgery Gibbon Society Historical Profiles

The life and work of Dr. Lyon Henry Appleby, M.D., portrays the essence of a devoted clinician committed to scholarly excellence. Born in Deseronto, Ontario, in 1895 and passing in 1970, Dr. Appleby influenced all areas of general surgery, most notably popularizing a procedure that bears his name today. After a tour in World War I, he quickly proved himself to be a dedicated clinician with roots in academia, which translated into excellence within the Department of Surgery at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. He served in various leadership roles including Chair of the Department of Surgery, President of …

The Potential Roles Of Long Noncoding Rnas (Lncrna) In Glioblastoma Development, Shuang Liu, Ramkrishna Mitra, Ming-Ming Zhao, Wenhong Fan, Christine M. Eischen, Feng Yin, Zhongming Zhao

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) may contribute to the initiation and progression of tumor. In this study, we first systematically compared lncRNA and mRNA expression between glioblastoma and paired normal brain tissues using microarray data. We found 27 lncRNA and 82 mRNA significantly upregulated in glioblastoma, as well as 198 lncRNA and 285 mRNA significantly downregulated in glioblastoma. We identified 138 coexpressed lncRNA–mRNA pairs from these differentially expressed lncRNA and genes. Subsequent pathway analysis of the lncRNA-paired genes indicated that EphrinB–EPHB, p75-mediated signaling, TNFα/NF-κB, and ErbB2/ErbB3 signaling pathways might be altered in glioblastoma. Specifically, lncRNA RAMP2-AS1 had significant decrease of expression …

Heteroglossic Practices In A Multilingual Science Classroom, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper uses sociocultural theories of language learning to investigate how teachers and students navigate between monolingual institutional policies and the multilingual realities encountered in a rural Kenyan fourth-grade classroom. The paper addresses not only how learners’ communicative repertoires are deployed to make meaning in a foreign language instruction context but also the sociocultural significance of these communicative practices. Results illustrate how the science teacher used heteroglossic practices to mediate students’ access to literacy, hence, supporting the content learning and language development of students. Both the science teacher and the students preferred a more flexible use of language to make …

Across The Great Divide: Findings And Possibilities For Action From The 2016 Summit Meeting Of Academic Libraries And University Presses With Administrative Relationships (P2l), Mary Rose Muccie, Joe Lucia, Elliott Shore, Clifford Lynch, Peter Berkery

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

The library-press relationship explored in P2L allows for transformative approaches in support and dissemination of scholarship. Effective exploitation of these partnerships is in the early stages and there is an opportunity to influence the outcomes to ensure they are as broadly applicable and scalable as possible. As Cliff Lynch (CNI) noted in his summary of the day’s conversation, we must do more exploration of both intra-institutional (library and press) and cross-institutional collaborations. He provided several compelling suggestions for partnerships, including new ways to promote and leverage library special collections as well as ideas for increasing discoverability of press content. (See …