Digital Commons Network^™

Bursting The Auto Loan Bubble In The Wake Of Covid-19, Pamela Foohey

Articles

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, auto loans outstanding in the United States had soared to record highs. The boom in lending spanned new and used cars and traditional and subprime loans. With loan delinquencies also hitting new highs almost every quarter, predictions that the auto lending market could burst soon abounded. When the economy came to a grinding halt and unemployment skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic, auto lenders knew they were facing a crisis. Throughout 2020, auto lenders granted more payment forbearances to consumers, while slashing interest rates on new loans. Auto manufacturers similarly made promises to buyers, such …

When We Know Better, We Do Better: Maintaining And Retrieving Advance Directive Documents In The Electronic Health Record, Linda Caurdy-Bess, Sara Damiano, Amy Fresch, Marilyn Begle, Srikala Yedavally-Yellayi, Hany A. Eraqi, Ali H. Mahmood

Articles

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: 1. Define and understand the value of an advance care planning system approach at a large health system. 2. Learn how to evaluate the rate and quality of advance directive documents uploaded in the EHR. 3. Gain practical skills to leverage stakeholder engagement and resource development to enhance an advanced care planning system approach.

Black Transit: When Public Transportation Decision-Making Leads To Negative Economic Development, Audrey G. Mcfarlane

Articles

No abstract provided.

A Rare Case Of Jejunal Perforation Due To Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease 27 Years After Liver Transplant, Marcos Rosado, Thomas Serena, Zophia Martinez, Erich Schwartz, Harris Mainster

Articles

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) is a well-known post-transplant malignancy common in both solid organ and stem cell transplants. The incidence of PTLD in adult liver transplant recipients is approximately 2.8%. While most often presenting in the first year after transplant, PTLD can occur at any time. This case report narrates a 61-year-old female with a history of liver transplant in 1992 for autoimmune hepatitis that was found to have a jejunal perforation due to PTLD 27 years later. The patient presented to the hospital with a fifteen hour history of left sided abdominal pain that was progressively worsening. The patient …

An Electrochemical Evaluation Of Novel Ferrocene Derivatives For Glutamate And Liver Biomarker Biosensing, Geok Hong Soon, Mary Deasy, Eithne Dempsey

Articles

Here, we present an evaluation of two new monosubstituted ferrocene (Fc) derivatives, 3-(1H-pyrrol-1-yl)propanamidoferrocene and 1-hydroxy-2-[2-(thiophen-3-yl)-ethylamino]ethylferrocene, as glutamate oxidase mediators, together with their preparation and characterisation. Taking into consideration the influence of the electronic effects of substituents on the redox potentials of the Fc species, two candidates with pyrrole or thiophene moieties were proposed for investigation. Film studies involved potential sweeping in the presence of pyrrole or 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene monomers resulting in stable electroactive films with % signal loss upon cycling ranging from 1 to 7.82% and surface coverage (Γ) 0.47–1.15 × 10−9 mol/cm2 for films formed under optimal conditions. Construction of …

Adapting An Agent-Based Model Of Infectious Disease Spread In An Irish County To Covid-19, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Articles

The dynamics that lead to the spread of an infectious disease through a population can be characterized as a complex system. One way to model such a system, in order to improve preparedness, and learn more about how an infectious disease, such as COVID-19, might spread through a population, is agent-based epidemiological modelling. When a pandemic is caused by an emerging disease, it takes time to develop a completely new model that captures the complexity of the system. In this paper, we discuss adapting an existing agent-based model for the spread of measles in Ireland to simulate the spread of …

Overview Of Hybrid Financial Instruments And Investment Leverage Enablers For Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse, Tracy Pickerill

Articles

Cultural heritage adaptive reuse investment strategies involve long-term, sometimes perpetual, investment horizons, which necessitate the integration of sustainable funding mechanisms. In order to achieve participatory circular human prosperity, the sustainable finance movement must re-evaluate investment leverage approaches including value creation models, the design of hybrid financial instruments, analytical decision-making frameworks,collaborative social enterprise structures, impact performance metrics and evolving mindsets.

In the context of this overview of financial and non-financial instruments, cultural heritage adaptive reuse activities include:

• Adaptive reuse of cultural built heritage structures

• Energy retrofit of cultural built heritage structures

• Protection and management of natural eco-systems;

• …

Challenging Domestic Injustice Through International Human Rights Advocacy: Addressing Homelessness In The United States, Eric Tarst, Tamar Ezer, Melanie Ng, David Stuzin, Conor Arevalo

Articles

This Article explores how international human rights norms and procedures can serve as a powerful tool in addressing injustice in the United States context, using work addressing the criminalization of homelessness as a case study. Moreover, it explores how civil and political rights and negative obligations by the government can serve as an entry point for asserting a more robust understanding of rights that includes social and economic rights and affirmative obligations by government. The Article documents and analyzes original work led by the National Homelessness Law Center and other pioneering advocates, reflecting on lessons learned and next steps to …

Proven Concepts In New Contexts: Applying Public Health, Mental Health, And Human Rights Strategies To Atrocity Prevention, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Arlan F. Fuller, Caitlin O. Mahoney, Amy E. Meade

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No abstract provided.

Deal Protection Devices, Albert H. Choi

Articles

In mergers and acquisitions transactions, a buyer and a seller will often agree to contractual mechanisms (deal protection devices) to deter third parties from jumping the deal and to compensate a disappointed buyer. With the help of auction theory, this Article analyzes various deal protection devices, while focusing on the two most commonly used mechanisms: match rights and target termination fees. A match right gives the buyer a right to “match” a third party’s offer so as to prevent the third party from snatching the target away, while a termination fee compensates the buyer when a third party acquires the …

Democracy’S Destiny, Gilda Daniels

Articles

From its beginning, America has had a paradoxical democracy, where “all men are created equal” while simultaneously denying the right to vote to anyone who was not White, male, or owned property. The pandemic exposed the fault lines of our democratic form of government. Those imposing barriers to the ballot are facing off against the advocates of access. It is not a new battle. In America, we seek ways to limit who can participate instead of expanding opportunities. We have dedicated our resources to dancing around the edges of democracy, for example, advocating for vote by mail or automatic voter …

Trade Administration, Kathleen Claussen

Articles

At the core of public debates about trade policy making in the United States and the so-called "trade war" is a controversy over who should be responsible for making U.S. trade law: Congress or the President. What these important conversations miss is that underlying much of our trade policy in recent decades is a widespread executive-branch lawmaking apparatus with monitoring, rulemaking, adjudicative, and enforcement features that operates in considerable shadow. Executive branch agencies are now the primary actors in trade lawmaking. This Article excavates that critical underbelly: what I call our "trade administrative state." It maps the trade administrative state's …

E-Cigarettes And Smoking In Irish Teens: A Logistic Regression Analysis Of Current (Past 30-Day) Use Of E-Cigarettes, Joan Hanafin, Salome Sunday, Luke Clancy

Articles

Aim

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use among Irish teenagers has risen significantly. In 2019, prevalence of current use (last 30 days) among 15–17-year-olds was 17.3%. We examine social determinants of adolescent e-cigarette current use.

Subject and methods

A stratified random sample of 50 schools in Ireland was surveyed in 2019, part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD), with 3495 students aged 15, 16, and 17. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression [providing adjusted odds ratios (AORs)] analyses were performed using Stata version 16.

Results

Current e-cigarette users were more likely to be male (AOR = 0.55, …

Metatheme Analysis: A Qualitative Method For Cross-Cultural Research, Amber Wutich, Melissa Beresford, Cindi Sturtzsreetharan, Alexandra Brewis, Sarah Trainer, Jessica Hardin

Articles

In recent years, there has been a florescence of cross-cultural research using ethnographic and qualitative data. This cutting-edge work confronts a range of significant methodological challenges, but has not yet addressed how thematic analysis can be modified for use in cross-cultural ethnography. Thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative and mixed-methods research, yet is not currently well-adapted to cross-cultural ethnographic designs. We build on existing thematic analysis techniques to discuss a method to inductively identify metathemes (defined here as themes that occur across cultures). Identifying metathemes in crosscultural research is important because metathemes enable researchers to use systematic comparisons to …

Temperature-Sensitive Holograms With Switchable Memory, Muhammad Irfan Dr, Suzanne Martin Dr, Izabela Naydenova Prof

Articles

Abstract

Herein, the dynamics and reversibility of temperature-induced changes in volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs) recorded in the low-toxicity self-processing photopolymer poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (poly-NIPA) are reported on. Transmission and reflection gratings are exposed to temperatures ranging 8–60 °C to study the effect of temperature on their properties. First, the role of the photopolymer chemical composition is investigated by comparing layers containing NIPA with those containing acrylamide (AA) and measuring the normalized diffraction efficiency (DE) at 60 °C; higher thermal sensitivity is observed for poly-NIPA gratings (24% drop) versus low sensitivity for AA gratings (2% increase). The impact of …

Internet Of Medical Things (Iomt): Overview, Emerging Technologies, And Case Studies, Sahshanu Razdan, Sachin Sharma

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No abstract provided.

Why Parents Chose To Send Their Children To Irish-Medium Immersion Preschools: Learning From Parental Choice Strategies In Celtic Countries, Maire Mhic Mhathuna, Fiona Nic Fhionnlaoich

Articles

This study investigated the reasons Irish parents chose to send their children to Irish-medium preschools settings over other forms of early childhood education. The international literature on parental decision making regarding childcare and relevant studies on immersion education in Celtic countries were reviewed. A parental questionnaire, informed by this literature, was distributed through selected immersion settings in Ireland. Social and cognitive development were the main reasons parents cited in regard to early childhood education and an interest in the Irish language and bilingualism along with the good reputation of the immersion preschool were the reasons they chose immersion preschooling. Comparisons …

Unveiling Women’S Needs And Expectations As Users Of Bike Sharing Services: The H2020 Diamond Project, Andrea Gorrini, Rawad Choubassi, Federico Messa, Wafaa Saleh, Augustus Ababio-Donkor, Maria Chiara Leva, Lorraine D'Arcy, Francesco Fabbri, David Laniado, Pablo Aragon

Articles

Within the objectives of the H2020 DIAMOND project, the paper investigates women’s needs and expectations as users of the bike-sharing service managed by Syndicat Mixte Autolib et Velib Métropole in the territory of Paris Region-Petite Couronne (France). The paper presents a thematic literature review focused on gender inclusion in bike-sharing schemes. The proposed methodological approach is based on (i) Geographic Information Systems for the analysis of geolocated open datasets related to land, sociodemographic and mobility characteristics of the areas surrounding each docking stations. This was aimed at identifying a short list of suitable bike-sharing docking stations, which were further characterized …

U-251mg Spheroid Generation Using Low Attachment Plate Method Protocol, Lara J. Carroll, Brijesh K. Tiwari, James F. Curtin, Janith Wanigasekara

Articles

3D cell culture is a process used to grow cells in vitro to mimic an in vivo environment. 3D cell models are very useful for understanding disease mechanisms and exploring drug therapeutics. 3D cultures can be grown from cells taken from cancer organoids in patients. Once grown, they can be used to screen for small molecule drugs or they can be genetically modified in order to analyse disease pathways or predict the toxicity or efficacy of a drug treatment. These cultures decrease the need to use animals in research and provides more reliable results as it uses human physiology. This …

Raman Spectroscopic Characterisation Of Non Stimulated And Stimulated Human Whole Saliva, Genecy Calado, Isha Behl, Hugh Byrne, Fiona Lyng

Articles

Human saliva is a unique biofluid which can reflect the physiopathological state of an individual. The wide spectrum of molecules present in saliva, compounded by the close association of salivary composition to serum metabolites, can provide valuable information for clinical diagnostic applications through highly sensitive vibrational spectroscopic techniques such as Raman spectroscopy. However, the nature of saliva, in terms of collection and patient-related characteristics, can be considered factors which may strongly affect the Raman spectral profile of salivary samples and disrupt the search for specific salivary biomarkers in the detection of diseases. The main objective of this study was to …

Finding The Needle In A Haystack: On The Automatic Identification Of Accessibility User Reviews, Eman Abdullah Alomar, Wajdi Aljedaani, Murtaza Tamjeed, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Yasime Elglaly

Articles

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many limitations. User reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this paper is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help technology professionals in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as input accessibility user …

A Systematic Review Of Urban Navigation Systems For Visually Impaired People, Fatmaelzahraa Eltaher Ph.D, Ayman Taha, Jane Courtney, Susan Mckeever

Articles

Blind and Visually impaired people (BVIP) face a range of practical difficulties when undertaking outdoor journeys as pedestrians. Over the past decade, a variety of assistive devices have been researched and developed to help BVIP navigate more safely and independently. In~addition, research in overlapping domains are addressing the problem of automatic environment interpretation using computer vision and machine learning, particularly deep learning, approaches. Our aim in this article is to present a comprehensive review of research directly in, or relevant to, assistive outdoor navigation for BVIP. We breakdown the navigation area into a series of navigation phases and tasks. We …

The Importance Of Right To Science During Pandemics, Natallia Sianko, Albina Balidemaj, Mark Small

Articles

Few articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) have received less attention than the right to science. All signatory members agreed that the right of everyone to “share in scientific advancement and its benefits” [Article 27(1)] is to be promoted and protected in every place around the globe (United Nations, 1948). The right to science is further secured in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This not only reaffirms it as a basic human right, but also, upon coming into force in 1976, established the responsibility of governments to respect the right of everyone …

Dead Men (And Women) Should Tell Tales: Narrative, Intent, And The Construction Of Wills, Karen J. Sneddon

Articles

The will is one of the most personal legal documents that an individual may ever create. The will is written in first person, present tense. Yet most wills reveal little of the person, the personality, or the personal. The inclusion of the testator’s relationships with people, entities, and property does little to convey the testator’s wishes, hopes, or fears. Some may assert that as a formal legal document, the will should be impersonal and be built using standardized, formulaic phrasing. Not only does such position overstate the accuracy of standardized, formulaic phrasing, but such position also ignores the foundational principle …

Unrules, Gabriel Scheffler, Cary Coglianese, Daniel E. Walters

Articles

At the center of contemporary debates over public law lies administrative agencies' discretion to impose rules. Yet for every one of these rules, there are also unrules nearby. Often overlooked and sometimes barely visible, unrules are the decisions that regulators make to lift or limit the scope of a regulatory obligation through, for instance, waivers, exemptions, or exceptions. In some cases, unrules enable regulators to reduce burdens on regulated entities or to conserve valuable government resources in ways that make law more efficient. However, too much discretion to create unrules can facilitate undue business influence over the law, weaken regulatory …

Teaching Written Advocacy In A Law Clinic Setting, Tamar Ezer

Articles

Written advocacy is a critical lawyering skill and vital component of student work in many clinics. This is certainly true in appellate advocacy and policy-based clinics, such as my own focused on human rights advocacy. Teaching written advocacy requires a deliberate and thoughtful pedagogy, just as with other aspects of clinical teaching. There is a rich literature on teaching legal writing, but only sparse discussion of its applicability in the fast-paced law clinic setting, where written products have real world consequences and need to be of high quality. This article delves into this literature and argues that written advocacy consists …

Energy Metabolism And Aging., Andrzej Bartke, Savannah Brannan, Erin Hascup, Kevin Hascup, Justin Darcy

Articles

Aging is strongly related to energy metabolism, but the underlying processes and mechanisms are complex and incompletely understood. Restricting energy intake and reducing metabolic rate can slow the rate of aging and extend longevity, implying a reciprocal relationship between energy metabolism and life expectancy. However, increased energy expenditure has also been associated with improved health and longer life. In both experimental animals and humans, reduced body temperature has been related to extended longevity. However, recent findings on the function of thermogenic (brown or beige) adipose tissue produced intense interest in increasing the amount of energy expended for thermogenesis to prevent …

The Continued Relevance Of The Contributions Of The Sierra Leone Tribunal To International Criminal Law, Charles C. Jalloh

Articles

No abstract provided.

Rural Social Safety Nets For Migrant Farmworkers In Michigan, 1942–1971, Emily A. Prifogle

Articles

In the 1960s, farmers pressed trespass charges against aid workers providing assistance to agricultural laborers living on the farmers’ private property. Some of the first court decisions to address these types of trespass, such as the well-known and frequently taught State v. Shack (1971), limited the property rights of farmers and enabled aid workers to enter camps where migrants lived. Yet there was a world before Shack, a world in which farmers welcomed onto their land rural religious groups, staffed largely by women from the local community, who provided services to migrant workers. From the 1940s through the 1960s, federal, …

Using Random Assignment To Measure Court Accessibility For Low-Income Divorce Seekers, James D. Greiner, Ellen L. Degnan, Thomas Ferriss, Roseanna Sommers

Articles

We conducted a field experiment in which 311 low-income individuals seeking a divorce were randomly assigned to receive access to a pro bono lawyer (versus minimal help) to assist with filing for divorce. Examining court records, we found that assignment to an attorney made a large difference in whether participants filed for and obtained a divorce. Three years after randomization, 46% of the treated group had terminated their marriages in the proper legal venue, compared to 9% of the control group. Among “compliers”—participants who obtained representation only if assigned to receive it—those with lawyers were far more likely to file …