Digital Commons Network^™

The State, The Udhr, And The Social Construction Of Family In Human Rights: The Case Of The Scarborough 11, Abbey S. Willis, Mary C. Burke, Davita Silfen Glasberg

Societies Without Borders

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (UN 1947:34) declares in Article 16(3) that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to the full protection by society and the state.” However, the UDHR does not define family, but rather presumes it is defined by traditional heteronormative marriage in a nuclear family. The failure of the UDHR to consider a more expansive view of family leaves the definition of family centrally in the hands of the state, and affects the ability of all but traditional nuclear family forms to access other human rights. We …

Help Was Not On The Way: Intellectual Property Liability Relief In A Pandemic Era, Kim Vu-Dinh

Faculty Scholarship

On January 21, 2020, the United States recorded its first case of COVID-19. By April of that same year, numerous hospitals across the nation had exhausted entire reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE), with looming uncertainty as to when they would be replenished. As infection numbers increased exponentially, global demand for some types of PPE increased by 1000%.

Volunteers across the nation assembled teams of makers—some professionals, but also scores of amateurs—to craft the critical equipment needed to slow down the onslaught of the pandemic. From creating cloth masks to ventilator pistons, nonprofits and everyday citizens were able to partially …

Assessing The Influence Of Invasive Removal Techniques On Mangrove Growth And Burrowing Crab Populations, Liah Continentino

Theses & ETDs

Mangroves are unique ecosystems, bridging land and sea, and hosting a plethora of ecologically and economically valuable species. Mangroves provide a nursery habitat for marine life, protect and build shorelines, and sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon. Mangrove trees have an interdependent relationship with the burrowing crabs which live alongside them. Burrowing crabs act as ecosystem engineers; assisting in nutrient cycling and decomposition, altering the sediment chemistry and promoting plant growth. This study takes place on a spoil mound caused by channelization in a mangrove island. Impacts of invasive tree removal techniques on mangrove growth, crab populations, and substrate characteristics …

“Therapy? What Am I, A Girl?”: Gender Differences In Willingness To Try Different Forms Of Therapy To Treat Anxiety, Samantha Forman

Theses & ETDs

Anxiety is an extremely prevalent mental disorder that can be treated in a multitude of ways. Both clinician-led therapies and minimal contact therapies have shown great efficacy in reducing anxiety symptomology. Factors that influence this efficacy include past experiences with therapy, opinions towards therapy, and individual levels of self-disclosure. Additionally, all of these factors have been shown to differ by the gender identity of the patient. The current study sought to explore if there were any gender differences in one’s willingness to try these different forms of therapy to help better manage their anxiety. The current study hypothesized that men …

The Heat Is On: An Analysis Of The Thermal Tolerance Of The Invasive Gecko Hemidactylus Mabouia As A Model For Ctmax Studies In Squamates, Sawyer Markham

Theses & ETDs

As climate change continues to threaten biodiversity around the world, time is running out to protect many species from extinction. Lizards are among the most threatened species, and over twenty percent of all lizards are expected to face extinction as temperatures increase globally. Hemidactylus mabouia is an invasive and highly abundant species of gecko in Florida and limited information is available on their thermal tolerance.These lizards were collected in Sarasota, Florida, where their CTmax was measured by the demonstration of loss of normal function in the form of pants and muscular spasms. I hypothesized that the two methods of measuring …

Underwater Sound Localization In Mississippi Map Turtles (Graptemys Pseudogeographica Kohnii)., Hannah Olson

Theses & ETDs

This research project explored the current knowledge and foundation of freshwater aquatic turtle sound localization. In order to better understand sound localization, a natural response-based test was conducted to observe changes in behavior such as heading, movement, and distance traveled when a novel sound was played from one of two speakers. I had two hypotheses: 1) Mississippi map turtles (G. psedogeographica) will move away from the sound source more often than they will move towards it when a sound is playing, and 2) that when they move, they will move a farther distance away from the sound source when a …

Patent Reality Checks: Eliminating Patents On Fake, Impossible And Other Inoperative Inventions, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The recent assertion of patents originally held by Theranos, the defunct blood analysis company whose founders are under federal indictment for fraud, highlights the existence of patents that might claim non-existent or inoperative inventions. While such patents may ultimately be subject to validity challenges in court, their issuance nevertheless has harmful effects on markets and innovation. I propose several administrative and legislative measures directed toward the elimination of patents claiming inoperative inventions including (1) increasing USPTO efforts to detect potentially inoperable inventions, (2) heightening examination requirements, including a certification of enablement, for certain inventions, (3) enabling greater public input into …

'In The Public Interest' - University Technology Transfer And The Nine Points Document – An Empirical Assessment, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In 2007, eleven major U.S. research universities and the Association of American Medical Colleges signed an accord titled “In the Public Interest: Nine Points to Consider in Licensing University Technology.” It outlined a range of issues that universities should consider when licensing their technology to the private sector - from reservations of rights and limitations on exclusivity to refraining from dealing with patent assertion entities to making medical technologies accessible at affordable prices. More than talking points, the document proposed specific contractual clauses intended to promote the educational and public welfare missions of universities. Today, more than one hundred academic …

Comments In Response To Request For Information To Inform Interagency Efforts To Develop The American Conservation And Stewardship Atlas, John C. Ruple, Jamie Pleune

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

On January 2, 2022, the Department of the Interior published a notice in the Federal Register seeking Information to Inform Interagency Efforts to Develop the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas. This letter responds to the Department’s request for information.

Our comments focus on what we believe would be a useful framework for the Atlas. Our comments proceed in 5 parts: (1) broad comments about conservation, the Conservation and Stewardship Atlas, and the America the Beautiful Initiative; (2) the need to provide a universal baseline of ecological health that includes ecological potential, existing conditions, and a landscape health assessment; (3) the …

Miscarriage Of Justice: Early Pregnancy Loss And The Limits Of U.S. Employment Law, Laura T. Kessler

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article explores judicial responses to miscarriage under federal employment law in the United States. Miscarriage is an incredibly common experience. Of confirmed pregnancies, about fifteen percent will end in miscarriage; almost half of all women who have given birth have suffered a miscarriage. Yet this experience slips through the cracks of every major federal employment law in the United States.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, for example, defines sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 requires covered employers to provide employees with …

"Only To Have A Say In The Way He Dies:" Bodily Autonomy And Methods Of Execution, Alexandra L. Klein

Faculty Articles

Capital punishment is one of the most significant intrusions into a person's bodily autonomy; the state takes a person's life. Even though the state has stripped a person on death row of much of their autonomy and intends to kill them, removing all autonomy, a person sentenced to death may, in some circumstances, choose how they will die. While most states rely on a single method of execution, some states permit a condemned person to choose among two or more methods of execution. Constitutional challenges to methods of execution requires the challenger to demonstrate a substantial risk of severe pain …

Assessing Legal Protection Of Biometric Data In China: Gaps, Principles, And Policy Recommendations, Qian Li, Jianyu Zhou, Jennifer S. Stevenson

Faculty Articles

The legal protection of biometric data is becoming an increasingly important issue in the information society. China attaches importance to the legal protection of biometric data. Over the past decades, the rapid development of digital technology has profoundly influenced Chinese information society. However, digital technology may also trigger substantial risks. In this article, we provide an in-depth examination of existing Chinese laws protecting biometric data. We explore general laws and facial recognition laws, administrative regulations, sector-based rules, judicial interpretations, regulatory documents, policy documents, and (draft) national standards. We find gaps in laws in China. Building on this analysis, we elaborate …

What Is The Recorded Economic Cost Of Alien Invasive Fishes Worldwide?, Phillip J. Haubrock, Camille Bernery, Ross N. Cuthbert, Chunlong Liu, Melina Kourantidou, Boris Leroy, Anna J. Turbelin, Andrew M. Kramer, Laura Verbrugge, Christophe Diagne, Franck Courchamp, Rodolphe E. Gozlan

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Invasive alien fishes have caused pernicious ecological impacts on aquatic ecosystems. However, there has not been a global appraisal of associated economic impacts. Here, we compiled reported economic impacts of invasive alien fishes using the most comprehensive global database of invasion costs (InvaCost). We analyze how fish invasion costs are distributed geographically and temporally, as well as which socioeconomic sectors are most impacted. Fish invasions have caused the economic loss of at least US$32.8 billion globally (2017 value), from only 26 reported species (of 128 known invasive alien fish species). North America had the highest costs (> 99%), followed by …

Analysing Economic Costs Of Invasive Alien Species With The Invacost R Package, Boris Leroy, Andrew M. Kramer, Anne-Charlotte Vaissière, Melina Kourantidou, Franck Courchamp, Christophe Diagne

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

1. The reported costs of invasive alien species from the global database InvaCost are heterogenous and cover different spatio-temporal scales. A standard procedure for aggregating invasive species cost estimates is necessary to ensure the repeatability and comparativeness of studies.

2. We introduce here the invacost R package, an open-source software designed to query and analyse the InvaCost database. We illustrate this package and its framework with cost data associated with invasive alien invertebrates.

3. First, the invacost package provides updates of this dynamic database directly in the analytical environment R. Second, it helps understand the heteregoneous nature of monetary cost data for invasive …

The Magnitude, Diversity, And Distribution Of The Economic Costs Of Invasive Terrestrial Invertebrates Worldwide, David Renault, Elena Angulo, Ross N. Cuthbert, Phillip J. Haubrock, César Capinha, Alok Bang, Andrew M. Kramer, Franck Courchamp

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major driver of global biodiversity loss, hampering conservation efforts and disrupting ecosystem functions and services. While accumulating evidence documented ecological impacts of IAS across major geographic regions, habitat types and taxonomic groups, appraisals for economic costs remained relatively sparse. This has hindered effective cost-benefit analyses that inform expenditure on management interventions to prevent, control, and eradicate IAS. Terrestrial invertebrates are a particularly pervasive and damaging group of invaders, with many species compromising primary economic sectors such as forestry, agriculture and health. The present study provides synthesised quantifications of economic costs caused by invasive terrestrial …

Biological Invasion Costs Reveal Insufficient Proactive Management Worldwide, Ross N. Cuthbert, Christophe Diagne, Emma J. Hudgins, Anna Turbelin, Danish A. Ahmed, Céline Albert, Thomas W. Bodey, Elizabeta Briski, Franz Essl, Phillip J. Haubrock, Rodolphe E. Gozlan, Natalia Kirichenko, Melina Kourantidou, Andrew M. Kramer, Franck Courchamp

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

The global increase in biological invasions is placing growing pressure on the management of ecological and economic systems. However, the effectiveness of current management expenditure is difficult to assess due to a lack of standardised measurement across spatial, taxonomic and temporal scales. Furthermore, there is no quantification of the spending difference between pre-invasion (e.g. prevention) and post-invasion (e.g. control) stages, although preventative measures are considered to be the most cost-effective. Here, we use a comprehensive database of invasive alien species economic costs (InvaCost) to synthesise and model the global management costs of biological invasions, in order to provide a better …

Economic Costs Of Biological Invasions In The United States, Jean E. Fantle-Lepczyk, Phillip J. Haubrock, Andrew M. Kramer, Ross N. Cuthbert, Anna J. Turbelin, Robert Crystal-Ornelas, Christophe Diagne, Franck Courchamp

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

The United States has thousands of invasive species, representing a sizable, but unknown burden to the national economy. Given the potential economic repercussions of invasive species, quantifying these costs is of paramount importance both for national economies and invasion management. Here, we used a novel global database of invasion costs (InvaCost) to quantify the overall costs of invasive species in the United States across spatiotemporal, taxonomic, and socioeconomic scales. From 1960 to 2020, reported invasion costs totaled $4.52 trillion (USD 2017). Considering only observed, highly reliable costs, this total cost reached $1.22 trillion with an average annual cost of …

Knowledge Gaps In Economic Costs Of Invasive Alien Fish Worldwide, Phillip J. Haubrock, Camille Bernery, Ross N. Cuthbert, Chunlong Liu, Melina Kourantidou, Boris Leroy, Anna J. Turbelin, Andrew M. Kramer, Laura N.H. Verbrugge, Christophe Diagne, Franck Courchamp, Rodolphe E. Gozlan

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Invasive alien fishes have had pernicious ecological and economic impacts on both aquatic ecosystems and human societies. However, a comprehensive and collective assessment of their monetary costs is still lacking. In this study, we collected and reviewed reported data on the economic impacts of invasive alien fishes using InvaCost, the most comprehensive global database of invasion costs. We analysed how total (i.e. both observed and potential/predicted) and observed (i.e. empirically incurred only) costs of fish invasions are distributed geographically and temporally and assessed which socioeconomic sectors are most affected. Fish invasions have potentially caused the economic loss of at least …

Yoga, Stress, And College Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Study, Lori Klein

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

College students have experienced exponential increases in stress and mental health concerns that continued to rise during the global coronavirus pandemic. Yoga is a popular, well-regarded method for improving psychological wellbeing, and this study explored how students’ perceived stress improved during a semester-long introductory yoga course upon returning to in-person instruction after a period of remote learning as a result of coronavirus restrictions. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed method design to first measure perceived stress scores and then compare this data to student-reports of wellbeing. College students (n = 121) enrolled in 8 sections of Yoga 1 completed …

Community Bonding For Ex-Offenders: The Importance Of Recreational Social Activities On The Post-Incarceration Reentry Process, Mfon-Obong Edet

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Examining different factors that causes an individual, particularly an ex-offender, to re-engage in criminal activities (also known as recidivism) is a recurring topic when discussing the U.S. criminal justice system. Within the field of criminology, an individual's engagement in criminal activities could be due to biological, psychological, or sociological factors. For the purpose of this study, understanding the sociological factors related to criminal activity was further explored. This exploration focused on the importance of community building and how bonding with others can create a better reentry process for the ex-offender, post-incarceration. Additionally, with a better reentry process, ex-offenders’ may be …

From The Shadows To The Spotlight: Centering The Experiences Of Faculty With (Invisible) Disabilities, Tiffany Gray

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The absence of research around the experiences of faculty with (invisible) disabilities is critically needed within the academy. Often (invisible) disabilities remain in the shadows because they are non-apparent until publicly disclosed. Equitable access, sustainable resources, and university communications around (invisible) disabilities can impact disclosure decisions.

This social justice mixed methods inquiry used an explanatory sequential design to explore factors that contributed to faculty disclosure and/or non-disclosure of their (invisible) disability(ies). For some faculty, the “choice” around disclosure was non-negotiable as a result of a myriad of reasons, one being their access needs. The overall process, navigation, and decision making …

The Impacts Of Learning 2 Breathe On Rumination, Adessa Flack

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The present study examined the impact of Learning2Breathe (L2B), a mindfulness-based stress reduction program developed for use with adolescents on rumination. The program was applied to rumination in college-age men and women. Our experiment utilized a quasi-experimental design. The sample consisted of 50 undergraduate students that were placed in either the experimental or control group. Data was collected pretest and posttest through a variety of measures including the Rumination Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ) which consisted of a rumination and reflection subscale, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). A two-way mixed ANOVA design was used to analyze data. There was no …

Predictors Of Future Gendered Play Practices, Caroline Guzi

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Gendered play is defined as the socialization of children to expectations of culturally determined gender roles via the mechanism of play. This study tested hypothesized links between undergraduate students’ childhood experiences and current beliefs to determine predictors of their future plans for gendered play as parents. Results indicated that men and women recall experiences of gendered play during their childhoods, consistent with past research. Most men and women did not plan to engage in gendered play with their own children in the future. Past play with toys stereotyped for girls was the strongest predictor of women’s plans for gendered play …

U.S. Families And Mothers Deserve Better .......!, Emmanuel Asante

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Breastmilk produced upon the delivery of babies in human societies was the most nutritionally
valued infant meal, historically. Before World War II, optimal breastfeeding of babies was the
norm in the U.S. However, women involvement in industry during and after World War II,
dropped breastfeeding to suboptimal levels, between 46.3% and 25.8% states average for 3
months and 6 months exclusive breastfeeding respectively, according to the 2018 U.S. National
Immunization Breastfeeding Survey (Cheng, et al., 2019). Four out of five mothers will start
breastfeeding during the first few days after delivery but will discontinue breastfeeding to go
back to work, …

Clinical Cell Therapy Guidelines For Neurorestoration (Ianr/Canr 2017), Hongyun Huang, Wise Young, Lin Chen, Shiqing Feng, Ziad M. Zoubi, Hari Shanker Sharma, Hooshang Saberi, Gustavo A. Moviglia, Xijing He, Dafin F. Muresanu, Alok Sharma, Ali Otom, Russell J. Andrews, Adeeb Al-Zoubi, Andrey S. Bryukhovetskiy, Elena R. Chernykh, Krystyna Domańska-Janik, Emad Jafar, W. Eustace Johnson, Ying Li, Daqing Li, Zuo Luan, Gengsheng Mao, Ashok K. Shetty, Dario Siniscalco, Stephen Skaper, Tiansheng Sun, Yunliang Wang, Lars Wiklund, Qun Xue, Si-Wei You, Zuncheng Zheng, Milan R. Dimitrijevic, W. S. Masri, Paul R. Sanberg

Neurosurgery and Brain Repair Faculty Publications

Cell therapy has been shown to be a key clinical therapeutic option for central nervous system diseases or damage. Standardization of clinical cell therapy procedures is an important task for professional associations devoted to cell therapy. The Chinese Branch of the International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR) completed the first set of guidelines governing the clinical application of neurorestoration in 2011. The IANR and the Chinese Association of Neurorestoratology (CANR) collaborated to propose the current version “Clinical Cell Therapy Guidelines for Neurorestoration (IANR/CANR 2017)”. The IANR council board members and CANR committee members approved this proposal on September 1, 2016, and …

Dogs Produce Distinctive Play Pants: Confirming Simonet Et Al. (2001), Shelly Volsche, Hannah Gunnip, Cameron Brown, Makayla Kiperash, Holly Root-Gutteridge, Alexandra Horowitz

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Identifying meaningful vocalizations in nonhuman animals can help explain the evolution of human communications. However, non-speech-like sounds, including laughter equivalents, are not well studied, although they may be meaningful. In this pilot study we investigate whether dogs perform a domain-specific pant during play by capturing vocalizations and behaviors during three interactions: training, play, and rest. Sixteen human and dog dyads participated in a session that included all three interactions in the same order: training, play, rest. During these sessions, each partner wore wireless microphones that transmitted to a receiver and digital recorder, while a standalone digital camera captured video of …

Computational Strain Analysis In Microbiome Datasets With Application To Skin Disease, Minerva Fatimae Ventolero

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Identifying bacterial strains is important not only for human health research but also for various environmental and industrial applications. The plethora of available shotgun metagenomic datasets provide an unprecedented opportunity to discover novel bacterial strains in different environmental niches. In this thesis, we evaluated the existing novel-strain-based tools and showed that their performance is still suboptimal. Due to the difficulty in distinguishing strains of similar abundance by available tools, the SMS (strains in multiple samples) tool was developed to de novo identify bacterial strains in multiple shotgun metagenomic samples. We showed that SMS distinguishes strains of similar abundance well and …

Salary Roster, 2022 December, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Accessing 3d Data, Francesca Albrezzi, John Bonnett, Tassie Gniady, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Lisa Snyder

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

The issue of access and discoverability is not simply a matter of permissions and availability. To identify, locate, retrieve, and reuse 3D materials requires consideration of a multiplicity of content types, as well as community and financial investment to resolve challenges related to usability, interoperability, sustainability, and equity. This chapter will cover modes, audiences, assets and decision points, technology requirements, and limitations impacting access, as well as providing recommendations for next steps.

Settler Colonialism And Assimilative Education: Comparing Federal Reconciliation Efforts For Indigenous Residential And Boarding Schools In Canada And The United States, Holly Jacobs

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This article compares the historical development, purpose and legacy, and subsequent reconciliation and reparations efforts of Indigenous residential and boarding schools in the United States and Canada. In both nations, these schools comprised but one piece of a carefully crafted network of federal policies aimed at the removal, assimilation, and cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples, and as a result, had destructive and lasting effects on those they oppressed. By taking a comparative approach and examining the laws and policies surrounding boarding schools in light of settler colonialism, this article hopes to illuminate the efficacy of reconciliation efforts of each nation. …