Digital Commons Network^™

Short And Distort, Joshua Mitts

Faculty Scholarship

Pseudonymous attacks on public companies are followed by stock price declines and sharp reversals. These patterns are likely driven by manipulative stock options trading by pseudonymous authors. Among 1,720 pseudonymous attacks on mid- and large-cap firms from 2010 to 2017, I identify over $20.1 billion in mispricing. Reputation theory suggests these reversals persist because pseudonymity allows manipulators to switch identities without accountability.

Privative Copyright, Shyamkrishna Balganesh

Faculty Scholarship

“Privative” copyright claims are infringement actions brought by authors for the unauthorized public dissemination of works that are private, unpublished, and revelatory of the author’s personal identity. Driven by considerations of authorial autonomy, dignity, and personality rather than monetary value, these claims are almost as old as Anglo-American copyright law itself. Yet modern thinking has attempted to undermine their place within copyright law and sought to move them into the domain of privacy law. This Article challenges the dominant view and argues that privative copyright claims form a legitimate part of the copyright landscape. It shows how privative copyright claims …

Taking Compliance Seriously, John Armour, Jeffrey N. Gordon, Geeyoung Min

Faculty Scholarship

How can we ensure corporations play by the “rules of the game” – that is, laws encouraging firms to avoid socially harmful conduct? Corporate compliance programs play a central role in society’s current response. Prosecutors give firms incentives – through discounts to penalties – to implement compliance programs that guide and monitor employees’ behavior. However, focusing on the incentives of firms overlooks the perspective of managers, who decide how much firms invest in compliance.

We show that stock-based pay, ubiquitous for corporate executives, creates systematic incentives to short-change compliance. Compliance is a long-term investment for firms, whereas managers’ time horizon …

An Environmental Lawyer's Fraught Quest For Legal Tools To Hold Back The Seas, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

The law is the principal mechanism by which society resolves disputes and implements policies. For more than forty years, I have worked to use the law to address environmental problems, initially by trying to stop projects that would increase pollution and harm communities. But there are limits to what the courts can do without explicit direction from legislatures. Climate change is a prime example. Some have seen litigation as a silver bullet, but at least so far that has not been the case. Elections matter more than lawsuits. Until and unless elections bring to power a president, a Congress, and …

Orbiting Forward (Thoughts On The Nature Of Conflict - Sighs On The Struggles Of Change), Bushra A. Alsughayer

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s world is a wide open hyper-connected sphere where human societies worldwide exist in a complex crossroads of historical conditions, ideologies, and power structures. A pool of constant confrontations, minor or major, between the traditional and the progressive, the local and the international, the materialistic and the transcendent, the pragmatic and the idealistic, and countless layers of meaning. For an individual who exists in such an intense moment of history, it seems almost inescapable to be exposed to, affected by, or even involved in a major conflict. A situation that makes individuals always in a critical position where every role …

Why The Fed Should Issue A Policy Framework For Credit Policy, Kathryn Judge

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Reserve has long used policy frameworks to both explain and inform its policymaking. These policy frameworks typically explain what the Fed is seeking to achieve in a given domain and how it plans to achieve its desired aims. Two prominent examples are the Fed’s use of Bagehot’s dictum when acting as a lender of last resort and its monetary policy framework issued in 2012 and revised in 2020. In both instances, the framework provides a foundation for informed debate among Fed policymakers, Congress, and the public, enhancing both efficacy and accountability. Since the onset of the Covid crisis, …

Asian Elephant Rescue, Rehabilitation And Rewilding, Liv Baker, Rebecca Winkler

Animal Sentience

Thailand has fewer than 10,000 elephants left. More of them are living in captivity to serve the tourist industry under grim conditions than are living free in what is left of their wild habitat. Conservation efforts need to be focused on all surviving members of the species, captive and free, but they need to take into account the inextricable entanglement of human and nonhuman animal lives in Thailand today. There is an opportunity for rescuing, rehabilitating and reintroducing captive elephants to the wild with the help of the traditional expertise of a mahout culture that has been elephant-keeping for centuries. …

A Psychological Perspective On Elephant Rewilding, Janet Vt Pauketat

Animal Sentience

Baker & Winkler describe the complexities of captive elephant conservation efforts in Thailand through multiple lenses. They advocate rewilding captive elephants within mixed elephant-human communities based on the benefits to captive elephants as well as to Karen mahout communities, given the entrenched economic and social systems in Thailand. From a psychological perspective, this advocacy is grounded in considerations of culture, cognition, speciesism, the differential valuing of others in social hierarchies, and the potential for positive interaction to build positive emotions and trust that enable successful rewilding in a world of elephants and humans.

Scenario-Based Strategic Planning For Future Civil Vertical Take-Off And Landing (Vtol) Transport, Woojin Choi, Steven Hampton

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Rapid evolvement of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology in conjunction with recent robust R&D has demonstrated the technical feasibility of the civil VTOL system as a short-haul mass transit mode. Its combined benefits of a helicopter and a turboprop into one aircraft is expected to become an effective remedy for congested air traffic and difficulties with airport expansions in the metropolitan areas along with the potential benefit to improve accessibility to population centers and remote areas where conventional aircraft cannot access.

In this study, based on a the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) factors and …

Collegiate Aviation Students Perceptions Of Female Representation In Collegiate Aviation And The U.S. Aviation Industry, Mallory K. Casebolt, Jam Khojasteh

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

While most industries have made noticeable increases of female professionals represented in the workplace, the U.S. aviation industry is still behind. According to Women in Aviation International (WAI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the encouragement and advancement of women in all aviation career fields and interests, women make up less than 30% of non-pilot aviation careers and 7% of pilots are women (Women in Aviation International, 2019). This study sought the perceptions of collegiate aviation students concerning female representation in the aviation industry. Furthermore, this study sought to identify if female students encounter any difficulties based on gender at the …

Hostos Community College Academic Bulletin 2020-2022, Hostos Community College

College Bulletins

This is the official college catalog for 2020-2022. It contains course descriptions as well as information on degree programs, college resources and services, financial aid, admissions, and the academic calendar.

The Backyard Orchardist – Fruit Pests: Cherry, Marion Murray, Diane G. Alston

All Current Publications

This fact sheet describes diseases and insect pests of cherry in order of importance. Shothole attacks dormant leaf buds, blossom buds, leaves, fruit, and twigs (fruit infections are less common on cherry. Other diseases described are crown rot and root rot, gummosis, perennial canker, and powdery mildew, Insects include western cherry fruit fly, spider mites, black cherry aphids, flathead borers, pear sawfly, and speckled green fruitworm.

The Backyard Orchardist – Fruit Pests: Plum, Marion Murray, Diane G. Alston

All Current Publications

Caused by a soil-borne, fungus-like organism (Phytophthora), crown and root rot occurs worldwide on almost all fruit trees. This pathogen is present in most soils, but only causes infection under optimal circumstances— high soil moisture or standing water, and susceptible host tissue. Once trees are infected, there is no cure.

Domino Steganography, Robert Bosch, Aaron Kreiner

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Brief History Of Quality Improvement In Health Care And Spinal Surgery., Kevin Hines, Nikolaos Mouchtouris, John J Knightly, James Harrop

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

While medical and technological advances continue to shape and advance health care, there has been growing emphasis on translating these advances into improvement in overall health care quality outcomes in the United States. Innovators such as Abraham Flexner and Ernest Codman engaged in rigorous reviews of systems and patient outcomes igniting wider spread interest in quality improvement in health care. Codman's efforts even contributed to the founding of the American College of Surgeons. This society catalyzed a quality improvement initiative across the United States and the formation of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Since that time, those such …

Implementation Of A Spine-Centered Care Pathway At A Regional Academic Spine Center., George M Ghobrial, Jefferson Wilson, Daniel Franco, Kristen Vogl, Alexander R Vaccaro, James S Harrop

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Objective: To describe the early implementation of an inpatient spinal surgery unit and measure the impact on cost and length of stay (LOS).

Methods: A retrospective case review was performed for frequent spine-related diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) cared for by a dedicated multidisciplinary team: combined anterior/posterior (AP) spinal fusion with major complicating or comorbid condition (MCC), combined (AP) spinal fusion with CC, combined (AP) spinal fusion without complicating or comorbid (CC)/MCC, cervical spinal fusion with MCC, cervical spinal fusion with CC, and cervical spinal fusion without CC/MCC. Four time periods were compared: historical control, initial pathway …

Early Surgery For Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: Where Are We Now?, Jefferson R. Wilson, Christopher D. Witiw, Jetan Badhiwala, Brian K. Kwon, Michael G. Fehlings, James Harrop

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Study Design: Narrative review.

Objective: There is a strong biological rationale to perform early decompression after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). With an enlarging clinical evidence base, most spine surgeons internationally now favor early decompression for the majority of SCI patients; however, a number of pertinent questions remain surrounding this therapy.

Methods: A narrative review evaluating the status of early surgery for SCI. In particular, we addressed the following questions: (1) Which patients stand to benefit most from early surgery? 2) What is the most appropriate time threshold defining early surgery?

Results: Although heterogeneity exists, the evidence generally seems to …

Detection Of Mitochondrial Dna (Mtdna) Mutations, Ali Naini, Robert Gilkerson, Sara Shanske, Jiuhong Pang

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

The maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a circular 16,569-bp double stranded DNA that encodes 37 genes, twenty-four of which (2 rRNA and 22 tRNA) are necessary for transcription and translation of 13 polypeptides that are all subunits of respiratory chain. Pathogenic mutations of mtDNA cause respiratory chain dysfunction, and are the underlying defect in an ever-increasing number of mtDNA-related encephalomyopathies with distinct phenotypes. In this chapter, we present an overview of mtDNA mutations and describe the molecular techniques currently employed in our laboratory to detect two types of mtDNA mutations: Single-large scale rearrangements and point mutations.

Influence Of Input Energy On Mechanical Properties Of Laser Powder Bed Fused Aisi 304l Stainless Steel, Tan Pan

Masters Theses

“Powder Bed Fusion process with selective laser melting technique is popularly adopted in additive manufacturing area on account of its layer by layer manufacturing fashion capable of fabricating components with complex internal and external geometries and structures. However, the process-property map is unique and vital for different materials and AM configurations used for fabrication. The process parameter is identified as a significant factor that heavily influences the properties and performances of the printed materials.

Current work aimed to extend the existing knowledge on Laser Powder Bed Fusion fabricated AISI 304L by accessing the influence of varying energy input on the …

Games For Organizational Training: Gamer Motivation Profile And Organizational Training Climate Effect Of Trainee Preference For Gamified Training, Brooke-Nicole Woods Ruffin

Masters Theses

“Gamified training is often utilized in organizations as a way to revamp their training and gain the attention of their employees. However, this training is expensive, and research is needed to help ensure that this training delivery is successful. In this study, first an individual’s gamer motivation profile is compared with learning outcomes that share the same elements. This was completed to determine if the elements that they looked for in playing video games were in alignment with those same elements in training In addition, it was explored whether the preference for participating in video games based on an individual’s …

Micro-Analysis Of Contaminants In Suspended Load And Bank Deposits From The Mineral Fork Creek Watershed In Potosi, Missouri, 2019-2020, William Joseph Miller

Masters Theses

”There are rising concerns pertaining to water contamination produced by toxic heavy metal contaminants such as lead and zinc. For this study, lead, zinc, and barite are three identified contaminants currently threatening Missouri water supplies. A microanalysis of the amounts of lead, zinc, and barite in the water of Mineral Fork Creek was conducted, involving both field and laboratory work. The purpose of the study was to determine the levels of lead, zinc, and barite contaminants, contributing to Big River, by Mineral Fork Creek, in Potosi Missouri, Washington County.

This research study uses a quantitative micro-analysis approach to determine the …

The Application Of Machine Learning Models In The Concussion Diagnosis Process, Sujit Subhash

Masters Theses

“Concussions represent a growing health concern and are challenging to diagnose and manage. Roughly four million concussions are diagnosed every year in the United States. Although research into the application of advanced metrics such as neuroimages and blood biomarkers has shown promise, they are yet to be implemented at a clinical level due to cost and reliability concerns. Therefore, concussion diagnosis is still reliant on clinical evaluations of symptoms, balance, and neurocognitive status and function. The lack of a universal threshold on these assessments makes the diagnosis process entirely reliant on a physician’s interpretation of these assessment scores. This study …

Quantifying Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Cognitive Performance, Quang Nghia Le

Masters Theses

“The most commonly used metric for evaluating alertness and vigilance is the Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT), previous studies have indicated that alertness and vigilance can be affected by the lack of sleep as a function of sleep loss. This study explores methods to predict median psychomotor vigilance reaction times. The data used in this study comes from a series of tests and surveys conducted on volunteer students. The data set contains many potential predictors of PVT and one aspect of the study was to identify variables that are useful in prediction. The performances of various prediction methods that allow for …

Strain Partitioning Across The Polochic-Motagua Fault System In Guatemala: Insight From Kinematic Modeling, Qiaoqi Sun

Masters Theses

”The Polochic-Motagua Fault System in Guatemala is the on-land segment of the sinistral transform plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. Three major seismically active strike-slip faults in this fault system pose significant earthquake threats to surrounding populated cities. The assessment of seismic hazard requires a better understanding of the kinematics of the fault system. GPS monitoring indicates that seventy-five percent of the ~20 mm/yr. plate motion is accommodated by the Motagua Fault and less than twenty-five percent is accommodated by the Polochic Fault. However, the Polochic Fault documents a lateral offset of ~132 ± 5 …

Should We Expect Each Year In The Next Decade (2019–28) To Be Ranked Among The Top 10 Warmest Years Globally?, Anthony Arguez, Shannan Hurley, Anand Inamdar, Laurel Mahoney, Ahira Sanchez-Lugo, Lilian Yang

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Annual rankings of global temperature are widely cited by media and the general public, not only to place the most recent year in a historical perspective, but also as a first-order metric of recent climate change that is easily digestible by the general public. Moreover, all annual NOAAGlobalTemp anomalies from 1880 (the earliest reading available) through the mid-1970s are well below anomalies of the top 10 warmest years in Table 1, even when considering the uncertainty of the NOAAGlobalTemp time series values. While we expect the algorithm's performance to be largely independent of any changes made to the way that …

Victory By The Weakest: Effects Of Negative Advertising In N>2 Candidate Campaigns, Jesse T. Richman

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

The truel, or three way duel, has distinct properties from duels: the weakest contestant often has a very good chance to win. This paper explores application of the logic of truels to election campaigns involving negative advertising. We show that negative campaigning that pits the leading candidates against each other can create circumstances in which the third (or worse) place candidate wins in one or more of the Nash equilibria of the game. We then study whether the simulated existence of an opportunity for Nash equilibrium victory by third place candidates predicts such outcomes in U.S. state-wide elections.

Challenges In Upgrading Emergency Power In Florida Nursing Homes Following Hurricane Irma, Nicole S. Hutton, Michael J. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

Maintaining and restoring electricity after a disaster helps to preserve the health and well-being of the elderly who are at increased risk of heat stress and may be dependent upon life-sustaining medical equipment. Mitigation policies altered in reaction to increased public interest without thorough consideration of industry-specific resources may contribute to delays in implementation and unrealized potential for emergency power coverage within individual facilities. The objectives of this research are twofold: (i) to examine the relationship between preexisting conditions of life-safety systems at facilities and date of implementation of emergency power regulation improvements and (ii) to assess the role of …

Nanodiamonds And Carbon Nano-Onions Ceramic Composites And Their Applications, Ibrahim Munkaila Abdullahi

Masters Theses

"Luminescent nanodiamonds are photostable non-blinking fluorescent biocompatible, non-toxic, functional Zable materials made from high-pressure high temperature (HPHT) microcrystalline diamonds. For long, the scientific community has been investigating for a clean, efficient and cost-effective technique to reduce the size of fluorescent microcrystalline diamond into nanodiamonds. Their color center, responsible for the fluorescent properties are crucial for their applications, including biomedical imaging, nano sensing, quantum computing etc, and therefore should not be affected significantly by the method of size reduction applied. A novel size reduction technique that is based on explosive fragmentation was developed and the corresponding fragmented diamonds obtained were characterized …

Development Of Amine-Functionalized Mesoporous Alumina For Radioiodine Removal From Water, Mansour Mohammed Alsalbokh

Masters Theses

“Radioactive materials have spread due to careless disposal and nuclear disasters. Some radionuclides can exist in an aqueous media, like radioactive iodine. As a result, in this work amine-functionalized mesoporous alumina was developed to adsorb radioactive iodine from the liquid phase. Bismuth was incorporated, using a wet impregnation method, to test it as a possible silver replacement. Amine grafting was used to functionalize the surface of the mesoporous alumina. All materials prepared in this work were characterized by N₂ physisorption, FTIR and TGA to determine the textural properties, surface functionality, and amine loading. The synthesized materials were tested for …

Additive Manufacturing Of Linear Shaped Charges To Address Run Up And Run Down Phenomena, Jason Ho

Masters Theses

”A shaped charge is an explosive device used to focus detonation energy in a desired direction. Additive Manufacturing (AM) can allow greater design freedom and geometric complexity for the liner portion of the shaped charge.

In this work, the following hypotheses were tested: 1) Adjusting the initial apex angle of a linear shaped charge liner reduces the amount of run up that occurs, and 2) implementing a backstop at the end of a linear shaped charge liner reduces the amount of run down that occurs.

Linear shaped charge liners with a continuously changing apex angle were created with additive manufacturing. …