Digital Commons Network^™

Two Constructions Of Liberty: Hugo Black's And Robert Jackson's Stances On Free Speech, Adam Mueller

The Dialogue

Adam Mueller contrasts the interpretations of free speech by Justices Hugo Black and Robert Jackson. The paper explores how their differing philosophies of liberty influenced their judicial decisions, particularly in the context of Cold War tensions and fears of extremism. Mueller examines the broader implications of their stances for constitutional democracy​

Slavery In The Taney Court An Examination Of The Personal Views Of The Justices And Their Influences On The Justices' Opinions, A.J Jeffries

The Dialogue

A.J. Jeffries examines the personal views of the justices of the Taney Court and their influence on decisions concerning slavery. Through an exploration of the lives and political inclinations of thirteen key justices, the paper highlights how these biases shaped landmark cases like Dred Scott and Prigg v. Pennsylvania. Jeffries provides a nuanced look at the intersection of personal belief, judicial analysis, and the societal standards of the time​

Red-Handed: Assessing The Deptha Of Chinese Economic Espionage, Alexander Hoskins

The Dialogue

Alexander Hoskins investigates China's involvement in economic espionage (EE). The paper differentiates EE from industrial espionage and competitive intelligence gathering, highlighting the significant global impact of China's alleged theft of intellectual property, which has economic and geopolitical consequences

A Triangular Relationship: Hong Kong, China And Great Britain, Mandaline Kam

The Dialogue

Mandaline Kam analyzes the unique relationship between Hong Kong, China, and Great Britain. The paper examines Hong Kong's colonial past, the transition under the "one country, two systems" framework, and the socio-political tensions that arose from the clash of Western democratic ideals with Chinese socialist policies

The Islamic State And Its Battle For Iraq, Sumer Wacthendorf

The Dialogue

Sumer Wachtendorf examines the rise of the Islamic State (IS) and its empowerment due to U.S. actions in Iraq. The paper delves into IS's origins, the repercussions of the Iraq War, and the group's impact on U.S. national security, arguing that American military strategies inadvertently strengthened such insurgent groups​

President Rutherford B. Hayes And Gilded Age Politics, Kelsey Smith

The Dialogue

Kelsey Smith explores the often-overlooked politics of the Gilded Age, focusing on President Rutherford B. Hayes. Contrary to the era's reputation for corruption, Smith argues that Hayes worked diligently to reform civil service and address political corruption. Through Hayes' efforts, the groundwork for the modern Progressive Era's political developments was laid​

Insurrection-Proofing The Courts: Judicial Tools To Protect The Legal System From Litigation Abuse In The Wake Of The 2024 Election, Raymond H. Brescia

SMU Law Review Forum

In the wake of the 2020 presidential election in the United States, lawyers sought to overturn the results of that election filing baseless and far-fetched claims. Courts sanctioned many of those lawyers and at least some of them have been disbarred or are in the last throes of disbarment proceedings. Yet such punishment has come nearly four years after the events that precipitated the need for such professional discipline. Are there things courts can do now, on the immediate eve of the next presidential contest, to “insurrection-proof” their courtrooms to make sure that the legal system is not used, once …

Facial Recognition Technology And The Dire Need To Regulate It, Michael Mellon

SMU Law Review Forum

Facial recognition technology enables the identification of subjects in digital recordings through the use of biometrics. This technology is increasingly used by both state and private actors for crime prevention, criminal investigations, crowd monitoring, and more. Its use continues despite the fact that the technology itself has been shown to have a propensity for bias and misidentification. The flaws inherent in the technology are not the only cause for concern either. There is reason to believe that nefarious actors could intentionally use facial recognition technology to achieve illegitimate ends. Meanwhile, facial recognition technology remains unregulated at the federal level in …

Crypto Regulation (And De-Regulation) In The U.S. And E.U. And The Effects Of Each On Consumer Protection And Illicit Transactions, Bella Alonzo

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

The United States and the European Union face a wide disparity in regulation tactics for cryptocurrencies. With the recent rollout of the world’s first comprehensive crypto-asset regulation framework, the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) has further exacerbated incongruities with the U.S.’s comparatively hands-off, scattered regulation strategy. The lack of uniform market regulation not only challenges compliance efforts, but it leaves critical gaps that have proved harmful for investors and opportune for criminals. Prioritizing international regulatory harmonization could result in continued growth of digital assets and a safer, more stable global crypto market, but the path forward is tense …

Racing To The Polls: A Comparative Analysis Of Election Administration Systems Between The United States And Canada, Anna Kuhlman

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Federal elections in the United States are conducted almost entirely at the state-level with no assistance from an electoral management body. The current federal election administration procedures lead to lower voter participation rates compared to other industrialized nations, specifically when considering Canada. Canadian federal elections are administered entirely through a national electoral management body, and Canadian voters are subjected to uniform procedures throughout the country. On the other hand, American citizens living in different states have significantly different voting experiences. By comparing the legal frameworks governing voter registration in both countries, this article will explore how processes such as automatic …

Femicides And Female Presidents: A Comparative Study On The Development Of Laws Against Femicide In Mexico And Honduras, Daniela Garcia

The International Law Review Association Student Forum

Gender-based killings, femicides, are the ultimate form of women suppression, and this crime flourishes in countries with deeply rooted misogyny and systematic gender power imbalance. But there is a complicated phenomenon occurring in Mexico and Honduras, in which their constituents voted for female presidents yet both countries have persistent rates of femicides. President of Honduras Xiomara Castro and President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum organized their respective voting coalitions with support from feminist advocates who believed that a female presidency would bring gender-based issues and femicides forefront. The institutionalized power of the rightwing party hinders Castro’s plan for the young democracy …

Equality, Morality, & Religious Liberty, Mitchell F. Crusto

SMU Law Review Forum

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the use of a specific race-conscious “tool” in the admission decisions of public and private colleges to achieve diversity is unconstitutional. However, in his nuanced opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts seemed to renew the Court’s commitment to the anti-discrimination vision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its progeny. Furthermore, the Court’s decision provided the possibility of an exception for its stated restriction, that is, for military service academies. Nonetheless, the Court’s ban on a race-conscious tool is expected to have a substantial, negative effect on the application and enrollment …

Donald Trump And The Collapse Of Checks And Balances, David M. Driesen

SMU Law Review Forum

This Essay analyzes Donald Trump’s erosion of checks and balances during his presidency and how President Trump will likely seek to complete their collapse if he regains power. Its First Part shows that congressional willingness to check presidential abuses of power declined during Trump’s presidency and will likely get much weaker in a second term. It also shows that President Trump figured out how to evade checks and balances from Congress in his first term and examines his plans to further usurp congressional powers. Part Two looks at the judicial role in facilitating or checking presidential power through a lens …

Inexact Methods For Large-Scale Stochastic Programming, Niloofar Fadavi

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the development of inexact methods for solving large-scale stochastic programming problems, with a focus on two-stage and multistage settings. Stochastic programming is a robust approach for managing uncertainty in decision-making, with applications across various domains like supply chain management, power systems, and logistics. However, solving large-scale stochastic programming problems, especially those with a nonlinear structure, is computationally challenging due to the high-dimensional nature of uncertainties and the need for efficient optimization techniques.

This work introduces novel inexact proximal bundle algorithms designed to solve two-stage stochastic quadratic programming problems. The proposed methods utilize dual-based and partition-based approaches to …

Enhancing Shap With Multi-Core Parallelization And Distributed Computation, Matthew David, William Jones, Hayley Horn

SMU Data Science Review

In recent years, the adoption of complex machine learning algorithms, often perceived as “black box” models, has grown exponentially across various disciplines. However, the lack of understanding regarding how these models come to their predictions often fosters skepticism and mistrust. In response to the demand for transparency and interpretability, Explainable AI techniques, such as SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), have emerged as powerful tools for comprehending and trusting these algorithms. However, SHAP has an exponential computational demand O( x2 ), where x is the number of features. This becomes increasingly problematic with the larger datasets standard in most industries. Many frameworks …

Remote Court Hearings (Past, Present, And Future): Arizona’S Next Steps For A New World To Enhance Access To Justice, Samuel A. Thumma, Marcus W. Reinkensmeyer

SMU Law Review Forum

In this article, the Arizona Supreme Court COVID-19 Continuity of Court Operations During a Public Health Emergency Workgroup (“Plan B Workgroup”) provides an update from its prior efforts, building on the Post-pandemic Recommendations: COVID-19 Continuity of Court Operations During a Public Health Emergency Workgroup, 75 SMU LAW REVIEW FORUM 1 (2022). This article focuses on the Plan B Workgroup’s February 2022 Recommended Remote and In-Person Hearings in the Arizona State Courts in the Post-Pandemic World and developments after those Recommendations. The article highlights the consideration and adoption of the Recommendations by the Arizona Judicial Council and the Arizona Supreme Court, …

Constraints On Solar Axions Using The Profile Likelihood Ratio Method With The Supercdms Experiments, Shilun Liu

Physics Theses and Dissertations

Dark matter plays an essential role in understanding modern physics and particles beyond the Standard Model. Evidence suggests that dark matter accounts for approximately 85% of the universe’s matter, and 26.8% of its mass-energy composition. Key candidates for dark matter include unidentified subatomic particles like Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and axions. The Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS) employs direct detection methods to identify these elusive particles using cryogenic technologies. Su- perCDMS Soudan is the latest completed CDMS experiment in Minnesota, in preparation for the next phase experiments of SuperCDMS SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada. At SNOLAB, the Cryogenic Underground …

Computational Study Of Protein Dynamics And Allostery Through Molecular Modeling And Machine Learning, Sian Xiao

Chemistry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the complexities of protein dynamics and allostery, presenting methodologies that leverage combined computational approaches, including molecular modeling and machine learning, to investigate these phenomena.

Protein dynamics bridge conformational ensembles and their corresponding functional states. It further plays a critical role in a wide range of biological processes. Therefore, studying protein dynamics is essential for understanding how proteins fulfill their biological functions. Allostery plays a pivotal role in biological processes, acting as a fundamental mechanism through which proteins transmit signals and regulate their activity. Despite its critical importance in biology, the specific allosteric mechanisms governing most proteins remain …

An Experimental Study On Mixed Hydrocarbon Gas On Transport Through Subsurface And Atmospheric Interfaces With Application To Natural Gas Pipline Leak Dection And Quantification, Richard Kolodziej

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Natural gas (NG) production and usage as a fuel source have surged in recent years, becoming a critical component of the global energy system and requiring extensive belowground pipeline infrastructure. Leaks in belowground pipelines release fugitive methane (CH₄) emissions, posing significant environmental, safety, and economic risks. Effective leak detection and quantification (LDAQ) methods are essential for identifying and measuring leaks to enable timely repairs and accurately address these threats. However, few studies have characterized the effectiveness of current and advanced LDAQ survey methods for belowground NG pipelines, with existing work often limited to technology-centric evaluations or studies of …

Multisensory System For Probing Scattering Media, Muralidhar Madabhushi Balaji

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

There are numerous problems in the physical sciences wherein the scattering of light fundamentally limits our ability to perceive and reason about objects within the visual field. Examples include navigation in foggy weather, detecting hidden contraband/explosives, detecting diseased regions in agricultural produce, and detecting tumors within tissue. In all these scenarios, the scrambling of light paths due to scattering reduces the ability to locate embedded objects and identify their spatial or spectral features.

Existing approaches address the challenge by augmenting optical sensing modalities with complementary techniques that do not rely on optical phenomenology, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) or …

The President’S Criminal Immunity, Amandeep S. Grewal

SMU Law Review Forum

This Article addresses a monumental question that the Supreme Court will soon decide: does the President enjoy criminal immunity for her official acts? This Article argues that she does.

The potential criminal immunity for official acts has drawn exceptionally sharp critiques. Some scholars believe that the immunity is nonsensical, absurd, or downright offensive. Judge Florence Pan of the D.C. Circuit even posited that criminal immunity would allow the President to murder her political enemies with SEAL Team Six.

This Article shows that the critics are profoundly mistaken. Criminal immunity for a president’s official acts finds a strong foothold in Supreme …

Multi-Class Emotion Classification With Xgboost Model Using Wearable Eeg Headband Data, James Khamthung, Nibhrat Lohia, Seement Srivastava

SMU Data Science Review

Electroencephalography (EEG) or brainwave signals serve as a valuable source for discerning human activities, thoughts, and emotions. This study explores the efficacy of EXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models in sentiment classification using EEG signals, specifically those captured by the MUSE EEG headband. The MUSE device, equipped with four EEG electrodes (TP9, AF7, AF8, TP10), offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional EEG setups, which often utilize over 60 channels in laboratory-grade settings. Leveraging a dataset from previous MUSE research (Bird, J. et al., 2019), emotional states (positive, neutral, and negative) were observed in a male and a female participant, each for …

Building Effective Large Language Model Agents, Sydney Holder, Shreyash Taywade

SMU Data Science Review

The advancement of large language models (LLMs) has significantly expanded the influence of artificial intelligence across various sectors. This paper explores building LLM agents to power applications and examines what is necessary to build an efficient and helpful AI assistant. The research investigates the core components necessary to create specialized agents, facilitate collaboration in problem-solving, and improve human task performance. The development and application of tools designed to augment the capabilities of LLM agents are also explored. The paper addresses the potential risks of the unknowns, such as hallucinations, which can compromise the success of agent-based solutions within LLM applications. …

Enhancing Customer Support Operations Through Gpt & Q-Learning: A Model Study, Adam Alidra, Bob O'Brien, Dalton Young

SMU Data Science Review

Abstract. “Growth strategies that are purpose-led, customer-centric, experience-driven, data/AI-enabled, and technology-scaled require new mindsets…” (Cornfield, 2021). What can we take from this? Business growth and customer experience are inextricably tied together. Therefore, thriving, as an organization, is dependent on reimagining enterprise operations through modern, scalable data and AI technologies. Our study aims to enhance support operations with emerging AI capabilities, including OpenAI’s LLM models, built on self-attention mechanism transformer architecture, and tailored for business needs through prompt engineering. Our research uses Markov Decision Process and the Q-learning algorithm to evaluate synthetically created support incidents. Through this set of methods, our …

Unveiling The Nexus Of Cellular Quality Control: Exploring The Interplay Between Ribosome-Associated Protein Quality Control And Mitochondrial Quality Control Pathways, Foozhan Tahmasebinia

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

In eukaryotic cells, the intricate interplay between cellular quality control mechanisms is crucial for maintaining homeostasis and safeguarding the integrity of vital processes, spanning from macromolecule synthesis to the renewal of entire cellular organelles.

Disruption of these networks can lead to severe diseases such as metabolic disorders, underscoring the interconnected nature and feedback control mechanisms inherent in biological systems, including cellular quality control systems. This interconnectedness extends to the intricate communication between organelles, enabling coordinated functioning and adaptation to changing cellular conditions, particularly in response to stressors.

While the exact mechanisms governing these communications within cellular quality control systems remain …

Moral Agency In Flux: Rohingya Refugees Envisioning And Establishing A “Good Life” In Dallas, Texas, Nusaiba Chowdhury

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic project explores how refugee-serving staff and Rohingya refugees navigate the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which focuses on refugees achieving self-sufficiency as its main metric of success. The goal of this research is to understand how refugee-serving staff perceive self-sufficiency, which is seen as synonymous with achieving a “good life,” and how Rohingya refugees envision and establish a “good life” in Dallas, Texas. This study is oriented around the historical and current experiences of securitization faced by Rohingya refugees, their experiences in the United States, the neoliberal design of the USRAP, the issues that refugee-serving staff have …

Unified In Christ, David Morris

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Statement of the Question/Problem

The United Methodist Church is facing a season of incredible struggle. The modern American United Methodist Church is facing a crisis of Division during this season of disaffiliation and restructuring. Division within church is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it is not new in the Methodist tradition. This repeating cycle of denominational fracture begs the question, “why does division in the church happen, and how can we avoid it in the future?” Currently the United Methodist Church is dividing supposedly over the issue of human sexuality. I would argue these divisions do not solely rely …

A Genetic Screen To Identify Cell-Specific Inhibitors Of Microexon Splicing In The Unc-13 Transcript In C. Elegans, Saad Ali

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Microexons, which are unusually short (<31 nucleotides) exons, have recently emerged as highly conserved features of genes expressed in the nervous system. Generally, microexons have been thought to be included (spliced in) in neuronal cells and skipped (spliced out) in non-neuronal cells. However, in our lab, we have discovered that certain microexons are included in certain neuronal cells but skipped in other neuronal cells, which reveals more complexity to microexon regulation. Therefore, I performed a forward mutagenesis screen that takes advantage of a bicolor splicing reporter in the unc-13 gene expressed in olfactory neurons to discover regulatory effects by which microexons can be skipped in specific neuron types.

Discrete Element Method Investigation Of The Dynamic And Seismic Response Of Embedded Geotechnical Systems, Ahmed Khamiss, Usama El Shamy

Civil and Environmental Engineering Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the seismic response of various embedded geotechnical systems utilizing the discrete element method (DEM). Embedded geotechnical systems play a crucial role in enhancing the stability and resilience of various structures as they provide solid foundations for infrastructural elements such as buildings, bridges, and transportation networks. The behavior of various embedded systems such as tunnels, pier foundations, and wind turbine foundations is investigated when subjected to seismic loading. In the first study, the seismic response of tunnels constructed in a deposit of granular soil of depth greater than 20 m is examined. Three-dimensional discrete element method simulations were …

Participation In The Martyred Christ: Augustine Of Hippo On Martyrdom And Martyr Veneration, Matthew Esquivel

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

In Augustine’s North Africa, when the likelihood of being a martyr virtually disappeared, various practices of martyr veneration were the means by which the church communed with the martyrs, obtained their intercessory aid, and experienced miracles associated with their relics. Augustine reflected upon the meaning of martyrdom in the midst of two unique contexts: 1) the socio-political context, in which the Roman empire had ceased persecuting the church and had adopted Nicene Christianity as the official religion of the empire, and 2) the ecclesial context, which included the martyr veneration practices inherited from preceding generations and the competing claims to …