Congressman Robert Kastenmeier and Professor John Stedman: A Thirty-Five Year Relationship

The professional relationship between Congressman Robert Kastenmeier and law professor John Stedman is discussed. John Stedman was a positive influence on Kastenmeier\u27s thinking on patent and copyright issues

The microassay on a card: A rugged, portable immunoassay

The Microassay on a Card (MAC) is a portable, hand-held, non-instrumental immunoassay that can test for the presence of a wide variety of substances in the environment. The MAC is a simple device to use. A drop of test solution is placed on one side of the card and within five minutes a color is developed on the other side in proportion to the amount of substance in the test solution, with sensitivity approaching 10 ng/ml. The MAC is self-contained and self-timed; no reagents or timing is necessary. The MAC may be configured with multiple wells to provide simultaneous testing for multiple species. As envisioned, the MAC will be employed first as an on-site screen for drugs of abuse in urine or saliva. If the MAC can be used as a screen of saliva for drugs of abuse, it could be applied to driving while intoxicated, use of drugs on the job, or testing of the identity of seized materials. With appropriate modifications, the MAC also could be used to test for environmental toxins or pollutants

Religion and Spirituality in Nevada

Across the world, religion is integral to society insofar it shapes people’s thoughts, behaviors, and interactions. What exactly the term “religion” means, however, is far from clear-cut, as it continues to be a highly charged topic of discussion and debate, a subject that many hold dear and near to their hearts. There seem to be just as many ways to define religion as there are groups and denominations that claim to hold the key to the “meaning of life” and even solve humanity’s woes. For many people, the word religion evokes shared ideas of church, gatherings, worship, prayer, music, traditions, and pilgrimages. Some of these images fit in with the “mainstream” meanings of religion, at least in terms of the practices of organized and institutionalized religion recognized in the United States. For other people, religion harbors meanings that go beyond the mainstream norms and that conflict with more familiar ideas of religion and religiosity. The rich diversity of the U.S. population reflects the amalgam of conventional and unconventional religious belief systems that coexist on a day-to-day basis. For the most part, the adherents of broad types of belief systems appear to tolerate one another, at least enough to function in a civil manner under the banner of an overarching “civil religion” (Bellah, 1967). Still, the nation has its share of religious conflict, and there are many examples of believers with clashing ideas and practices who struggle to have their voices heard and defend their religious convictions. Although Americans enjoy the rights to religious freedom and diversity guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, conflicts exist over the interpretation of freedom of religion versus freedom from religion. And debates about the Christian origins of the U.S. – often fueled by a Christian majority that makes up some 80% of the U.S. population – provide plenty of fodder for the so-called “culture wars” (Hunter, 1991; Borer & Murphree, 2008; Borer & Schafer, 2011). Conflicts over competing religious belief systems and worldviews do not necessarily imply social strife. Debates about the origins and the meanings of life and how they connect to our identities may foster healthy discussions and promote tolerance and pluralism. Motivated by presumed relations to a higher power or cause, religious groups have also been at the forefront of social activism and change. Though it is not always the case, conflicts between religious groups, and between religious groups and their secular counterparts, can lead to better understandings of diverse beliefs and practices and promote the social health of a nation, a state, and a community. Thus, we start with the proposition that religious diversity is central to the social health and well-being of human collectivities

On Knot Polynomials of Annular Surfaces and their Boundary Links

Stoimenow and Kidwell asked the following question: Let $K$ be a non-trivial knot, and let $W(K)$ be a Whitehead double of $K$. Let $F(a,z)$ be the Kauffman polynomial and $P(v,z)$ the skein polynomial. Is then always $\max\deg_z P_{W(K)} - 1 = 2 \max\deg_z F_K$? Here this question is rephrased in more general terms as a conjectured relation between the maximum $z$-degrees of the Kauffman polynomial of an annular surface $A$ on the one hand, and the Rudolph polynomial on the other hand, the latter being defined as a certain M\"obius transform of the skein polynomial of the boundary link $\partial A$. That relation is shown to hold for algebraic alternating links, thus simultaneously solving the conjecture by Kidwell and Stoimenow and a related conjecture by Tripp for this class of links. Also, in spite of the heavyweight definition of the Rudolph polynomial $\{K\}$ of a link $K$, the remarkably simple formula \{\bigcirc\}\{L#M\}=\{L\}\{M\} for link composition is established. This last result can be used to reduce the conjecture in question to the case of prime links.Comment: Version 4: revision as of October 10, 2008. Fixed several errors and inaccuracies. 11 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Societ

Compressor blade setting angle accuracy study, volume 1

The aerodynamic test of a small, single stage, highly loaded, axial flow transonic compressor is covered. The stage was modified by fabricating a 24 blade rotor with mis-set blades in a repeating pattern - two degrees closed from nominal, two degrees open from nominal and nominal. The unit was instrumented to determine overall performance and average blade element data. High-response, dynamic pressure probes were installed to record pressure patterns at selected points in the flowpath. Testing was conducted at speeds from 70 to 94% of design equivalent speed with a conventional casing and also with circumferential grooves over the rotor tip. Testing indicated severe performance penalties were incurred as a result of the mis-set blading. Lower flow, pressure ratio, and efficiency were observed for the stage with or without casing treatment. Periodic pressure variations were detected at every location where high response pressure sensors were located and were directly related to blading geometry

A Study of the Crisis Leadership Model at Marshall University

This research addresses the question: what factors contribute to a group successfully navigating times of crisis and what roles does the leader play in this navigation. Given recent events such as the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004, the catastrophic force of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the most recent earthquake in 2010 that decimated Haiti, coupled with the current tenuous international political climate, the need to understand how groups move through crisis and what role leadership plays is vitally important. To study this question, the crisis of Marshall University will be analyzed. On November 14th, 1970, a chartered Southern Airways flight carrying the Marshall University football team, coaching staff and many members of the community, crashed outside Huntington, West Virginia. There were no survivors. Left behind were two assistant coaches and three varsity players that were not aboard the flight. After much deliberation, the university decided to carry on with the football program and hired Jack Lengyel of Wooster College to lead the rebuilding effort. A case study of the Marshall University football program will be conducted for this research. During this research, literature in the field of crisis management will be reviewed, literature in the area of storytelling within the context of leadership will be reviewed, the crisis of the plane crash and its aftermath will be analyzed, an interview with Coach Lengyel will be conducted, and a crisis leadership model will be developed for the purpose of determining how effectively a given leader navigates times of crisis

Presbyterians in Persia: Christianity, Cooperation, and Control in Building the Mission at Orumiyeh

This thesis was submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for departmental honors.The establishment of a mission station in Orumiyeh, Persia was the beginning of a vast mission project in the country — spanning more than 100 years and resulting in the appointment of the first United States minister to Persia. This mission was the result of a series of coincidences and particularities, including the socio-economic and political situation of the community of Assyrian Christians to whom it was directed. Beyond this, however, the mission was founded on friendship and affection between Assyrian Christians living in Orumiyeh and the American missionaries. This intersection of familiarity and foreignness, ensconced in recollections of linguistic developments, shared religious practice, and everyday moments spent together, reveal much about the fragile, complicated, and ultimately intimate nature of empire

Extending the Lessons of Hadley v. Baxendale

I have taught the venerable case of Hadley v. Baxendale more than thirty times to students in Contracts I and an additional thirty or more times to students in a Remedies course. I recently realized that I had underestimated the potential of the case. This Conference, and some conversations with my colleague Bill Whitford led me to realize that Hadley can be used more ambitiously. The trick to doing this is easy. One has simply to ask students to imagine that the notice of special circumstances had been given, and then ask what the victims of the breach would have needed to prove in order to recover significant damages, and whether Baxendale would have had any remaining credible defenses