Digital Commons Network^™

Machine Learning And Rna Bioinformatics, Jason Rafe Miller

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The applied science of bioinformatics encompasses computational analysis of molecular biology data. Advances in genomics and DNA sequencing technology have enabled computational analysis of ribonucleic acids (RNAs), which play diverse and critical roles in most cells. To assist the study of human RNA, we trained machine learning models on RNA nucleotide sequences, devoid of domain knowledge. We built models that distinguish long non-coding lncRNA from protein-coding mRNA, and models that predict the cytoplasmic vs. nuclear preferences of lncRNAs. In a review of published lncRNA subcellular localization classifiers, we show that the commonly used validation protocol generates optimistic performance measures, and …

Pepperoni Roll Studios: A Handbook & Policy Guide For A Podcast And Audio Production Student Organization, Nicholas Kirk Kratsas

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

For Students

Welcome to Pepperoni Roll Studios, WVU’s new and exciting experiential podcast and audio production organization! You’ve made a great decision to join one of the best communities on campus.

This handbook will guide and facilitate our new student-run organization. Within its pages, you’ll find out who we are, what we do and how we do it to fill you in on everything you need to know. Let’s roll!

For Advisors and Staff

WVU Student Media is excited to launch our new podcast and audio production organization, Pepperoni Roll Studio! This venture grew out of a demand for more …

Solutions For Heirs Property Owners, Jesse J. Richardson Jr., Amber S. Miller

Law Faculty Scholarship

What are some solutions for heirs property owners? An offered solution assumes that there is a problem, and the first step must be clearly defining the problem. But, as the authors explain, the term "heirs property" proves difficult to define because of the vast number and scope of heirs property scenarios. Stated very simply, the term refers to a subset of tenancy in common property where the owners received concurrent interests in land through inheritance. But, heirs property is anything but simple. In fact, it is quite complex, beginning with the ownership picture of heirs property tracts of land: the …

Minor League With A Major Issue: How Baseball's Federal Antitrust Exemption Has Devastated Minor League Baseball, Hallie Arena

West Virginia Law Review Online

In 1922, the United States Supreme Court exempted Major League Baseball (“MLB”) from the Sherman Antitrust Act in the landmark decision Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. Despite growing criticism from the players, fans, and the courts, this exemption holds true today. Although MLB players have slowly been given greater contracting rights, minor league players have been left behind in this fight. MLB’s antitrust exemption negatively affects MiLB and allows league owners to exploit players for little salary, often forcing them to live at or below the poverty line. Poor living conditions, coupled …

The Prelude, Gene Davis

Calliope

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Calliope

No abstract provided.

Project Foresight Annual Report, 2021-2022, Paul J. Speaker

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Project FORESIGHT is a business-guided self-evaluation of forensic science laboratories across the globe. The participating laboratories represent local, regional, state, and national agencies. Economics, accounting, finance, and forensic faculty provide assistance, guidance, and analysis. Laboratories participating in Project FORESIGHT have developed standardized definitions for metrics to evaluate work processes, linking financial information to work tasks, and functions. Laboratory managers can then assess resource allocations, efficiencies, and value of services—the mission of Project FORESIGHT is to measure, preserve what works, and change what does not.

The benchmark data for the 2021-2022 performance period includes laboratory submissions for a variety of fiscal …

Unfairy Tales And Other Refugee Stories: Creating Relations Through The Humanitarian Imagination In Mohsin Hamid's Exit West And Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread, Gabriella Pishotti

Graduate Student Scholarship

Contrary to many analyses of refugee narratives that focus on how their subject matter becomes compromised by issues of authority, believability, and expectation, this article explores how refugee novels such as Mohsin Hamid's Exit West and Helen Oyeyemi's Gingerbread lean into such problems in a way that appeals to the humanitarian imagination. These novels recognize the incomprehensibility of the refugee experience and play upon this reality by intermixing their stories with fairy tale elements. In doing so, the tropes of fairy tales provide these stories with greater narrative flexibility while making the unfamiliar realities of refugees comprehensible through familiar narrative …

Banned Or Grand?: Why Graphic Novels Maus And Persepolis Belong In The Classroom, Lauren Volk

Munn Scholars Awards

My capstone essay, “Banned or Grand?: Why Graphic Novels Maus and Persepolis Belong in The Classroom,” seeks to research both the objections to oft-banned memoir graphic novels being incorporated in the secondary school curriculum and the reasons why these graphic novels should not only be incorporated into the curriculum, but also why they assist students in developing necessary skills, such as higher-level critical thinking, a deeper understanding of complicated historical events, and the analysis of form and structure in literature, rather than just content. To enhance my research, I connected my main points to the pedagogical theory of learning transfer.

Dismantling The Mine Act, William B. Moran

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sovereign Immunity And The West Virginia Constitution, J. Zac Ritchie

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Removing Barriers--Not Children: How West Virginia Can Prevent Further Harm To Children, Emily R. Mowry

West Virginia Law Review

West Virginia has one of the highest rates of children in foster care—and thus removed from their families—in the United States. Recent scientific and social science research has shown that removing children from their parents’ home is a traumatic event in and of itself, causing further harm to children already experiencing abuse and neglect. Federal legislation in the past ten years requires that states make reasonable efforts to address issues of abuse and neglect prior to removing children from their homes. West Virginia, for many reasons, is not doing so. West Virginia’s state child welfare agency, Department of Health and …

In Response To Professor, Please Help Me Pass The Bar Exam, Jaylin K. Johnson

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Custody Is No Place For A Magic Formula: Why A Presumption Of 50/50 Physical Custody In West Virginia Is Not In Its Children's Best Interests, Stephanie R. Weber

West Virginia Law Review

The “best interest of the child” standard is used throughout family law and is the generally accepted standard for determining custody disputes. However, many states have introduced, and some have enacted, legislation that creates a presumption of joint, or “50/50,” physical custody between the parents. As psychological studies have shown, instability typically found in custody disputes can have a significant impact on a child’s life, influencing attachment style and abilities to successfully self-regulate. These findings make the 50/50 presumption a flawed concept. Courts should be able to take factors supported by this research into account when making custody determinations as …

A Road To Resolution For Federal Whistleblowers' Mixed Case Claims, Devin Redding

West Virginia Law Review

Since the birth of the United States, whistleblowers have held our nation’s government accountable for illegal, fraudulent, and harmful behavior. The triumphs and failures of whistleblowers are deeply entwined with our nation’s struggle for independence, civil rights, and economic freedom. Nevertheless, employees who bravely expose misdeeds at all levels of our federal government are often bullied and discriminated against on the basis of sex, gender, age, disability, and more. In recent decades, and despite improved whistleblower protections, federal whistleblowers increasingly suffer from adverse employment actions and discrimination as reprisal for their disclosures. Employees looking toward our administrative law systems and …

Federal Sentencing: The Need For A New Test For The Abduction Enhancement In The Context Of Robbery, Alex Leroy

West Virginia Law Review

The abduction enhancement applied to the crime of robbery is inherently ambiguous; the enhancement reads, “‘abducted’ means that a victim was forced to accompany an offender to a different location.” The lack of a clear definition for “location” has caused a split within the federal circuits, with some circuits interpreting “location” as position and others interpreting “location” as place. This has caused disproportionate sentences for similar criminal conduct within separate circuits, creating the need for a more uniform interpretation of the sentencing enhancement for abduction.

This Note builds upon the work of David J. Sandefer and proposes two additional factors …

Shifting The Scope Towards Students: An Analysis Of Tax Code Treatment Of The Higher Education Loan Interest Deduction, Brianna C. Frontuto

West Virginia Law Review

In a nation where education is held in the highest regard but given the lowest priority, the United States continues to enlarge a gaping hole in the education system: student loan debt, a crisis sweeping across the nation and affecting nearly every individual in the United States. Higher education costs have sky-rocketed, and the expanding administrations and complex projects do not provide assurance that this will change any time soon.

Congress has placed tax incentives in the Internal Revenue Code (“the Code”) to encourage the pursuit of higher education while providing a benefit for doing so. Specifically, § 221 of …

Public Ownership And The Wto In A Post-Covid-19 Era: From Trade Disputes To A 'Social' Function, Paolo Davide Farah, Davide Zoppolato

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Censorship Constraint And Rulemaker State Action: Are Section 230'S Immunity Provisions Unconstitutional Content-Based Regulations?, Scot A. Reader

West Virginia Law Review

Even casual watchers of T.V. crime dramas understand the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule. Under this rule, evidence obtained by the police in a search of a criminal suspect’s premises that exceeds the scope of a judicial warrant is almost always inadmissible in the suspect’s criminal trial. The rule is designed to deter unreasonable governmental intrusion into private affairs and applies without regard for the suspect’s guilt or innocence. This Article proposes that the First Amendment includes an analogous rule against governmental censorship. Under this rule, content-based speech regulations exceed the legislature’s speech rulemaking warrant and are almost always invalid. This …

Home Court Advantage? An Empirical Analysis Of Local Bias In U.S. District Court Diversity Jurisdiction Cases, Kyle C. Kopko, Christopher J. Devine

West Virginia Law Review

In granting diversity of citizenship jurisdiction to the federal courts, there is an underlying assumption that federal courts will be less biased toward out-of-state litigants as compared with state courts. While this may be true, the assumption fails to consider an important empirical question: to what extent do federal courts favor home state litigants or disfavor out-of-state litigants when deciding diversity jurisdiction cases? Relying on the Integrated Database (IDB) compiled by the Federal Judicial Center and the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts, we present an original, empirical analysis of diversity jurisdiction case outcomes in the U.S. districts courts from …

Homeless Residency Restrictions, Ben A. Mcjunkin

West Virginia Law Review

Last year, the West Virginia House of Delegates introduced a radical proposal for responding to homelessness within the state: privately enforceable residency restrictions. As introduced, the restrictions prohibited homeless individuals from sheltering themselves, from being sheltered by others, or from receiving food or care within 1,500 feet of a school or childcare center. This prohibition was to operate statewide, transforming an issue that historically has been considered hyper-local into a subject of state concern. Moreover, the proposed bill established a private right of action for enforcement, legislating around the possibility of recalcitrant municipal governments declining to abide by the residency …

Certifiably Employable?: The Effects Of Occupational Regulation On Unemployment Duration, Ilya Kukaev, Edward Timmons

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Occupational regulation is a labor market institution that has received a growing amount of attention by researchers. Existing research has explored the effects of occupational regulation on wages and employment. To the best of our knowledge, no existing study has estimated the effect of occupational credentials on unemployment duration in the US. We derive a random search model to explain differences in individual unemployment duration resulting from heterogeneous effects from licenses and certificates. Our model predicts that an occupational credential with a stronger signaling or human capital effect results in a shorter individual unemployment duration. To estimate the effect of …

Wvu/Netl Econometric Input-Output (Ecio) Model Documentation Update, Randall Jackson, Peter Jarosi, Amanda Harker Steele, Smriti Sharma, Justin Adder

National Energy Technology Laboratory

No abstract provided.

In A League Of Her Own: Why Female Student-Athletes Are Poised To Win Big In The Nil Era With A Properly Crafted Federal Law, Anna G. Williams

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law Of The Land: The Continuing Legacy Of Indian Law's Racist Roots And Its Impact On Native American Land Rights, Maggie Lohmann

West Virginia Law Review

Throughout American history, inhumane treatment of Native nations has been legalized through treaties, court cases, and legislation. Confiscating Native land, treating Native Americans as second-class citizens, and breaking government promises to Native nations has been justified with racist stereotypes about Native Americans. Although some may believe that such atrocities only occurred in the past, this belief is unfounded. This Note examines the structural racism that supports Federal Indian Law through treaties with Native nations, racist Supreme Court Indian law opinions, and legislation that allowed the seizure of Native land. The lasting legacy of this structural racism is explored through recent …

A First Step Back In Time?, Blake Jacobs

West Virginia Law Review

This Note discusses the implications of the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Concepcion v. United States, which left open whether district courts must reanalyze the 18 U.S.C.A. § 3553(a) factors when ruling on a motion to reduce a defendant’s sentence under the First Step Act. The decision settled a dispute between the First, Fifth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits, which did not require sentencing courts to consider intervening factual or legal developments; and the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits which did. However, the Supreme Court’s decision only obligates a district court to consider intervening …

What A Data Privacy Law Should Look Like In West Virginia: Balancing Competing Interests Of Consumers And Businesses, Harrison Enright

West Virginia Law Review

Today’s businesses invariably leverage consumer data to create business insights, such as marketing strategies and consumer behavior analyses. As a result, consumers have placed an emphasis on data privacy and security. In response, many states have proposed comprehensive legislation aspiring to regulate the collection and usage of consumer data by businesses, grant individual rights to consumers, and provide for a method of enforcement. House Bill 3159 represents West Virginia’s most recent attempt at doing so, serving as an indication that the state is working diligently to enhance the data privacy of its residents.

Although enacting a comprehensive data privacy law …

Why Cost/Benefit Balancing Tests Don't Exist: How To Dispel A Delusion That Delays Justice For Immigrants, Joshua J. Schroeder

West Virginia Law Review

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court nullified its earlier presumption that indefinite immigrant detention without bond hearings is unconstitutional under Zadvydas v. Davis. If Zadvydas is a nullity, those who raise due process balancing tests during the post-removal-period in immigrant habeas review may need to find new grounds for review. However, since Boumediene v. Bush was decided in 2008, there are several reasons not to despair Zadvydas’s demise

.

For one, Zadvydas spoke to an extremely narrow subset of cases. It granted a concession under the Due Process Clause to immigrants detained beyond the statutory 90-day removal period. It …

Retooling Blue-Ribbon Advisory Committees For A Post-Fact World, Will Rhee, Claire Flynn Sellers

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of The Brittle Failure Mechanism Of Underground Stone Mine Pillars By Implementing Numerical Modeling In Flac3d, Rosbel Jimenez

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The room and pillar mining method is the most commonly utilized method for extracting minerals found in flat-lying stratiform, and it has been used in the majority of underground stone mines in the United States (Esterhuizen et al., 2011), as a consequence, it is a primary topic of study in the mining field. If a set or layout of pillars is unstable, it can cause a major collapse, resulting in not only the destruction of the underground mine, but also air blast, subsidence, and convergence of the mine opening, especially if they occur in a short period of time (Esterhuizen …