Digital Commons Network^™

Boden Lecture: Taxation Of Autonomous Artificial Intelligence, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Lucas Brasil Salama, Herbert Snitz, W. Robert Thomas

Articles

This Article proposes that tax can be a useful supplement to other measures to regulate Autonomous Artificial Intelligence (AAI) and limit its potential harmful effects. This proposal differs from command-and-control regulation of AAI along the lines of European Union legislation that may unduly limit the development of AAI. It also differs from existing proposals to tax AAI to generate revenue to help workers displaced by AAI programs, or to tax the data used by AAI The proposal is based on granting AAI programs like ChatGPT separate legal personhood, like corporate personhood, while incentivizing or requiring their corporate owner to place …

Neo-Brandeis Goes To Washington: A Provisional Assessment Of The Biden Administration’S Antitrust Record, Daniel A. Crane

Articles

In early 2021, a new coterie of trustbusters came to Washington with the stated purpose of radically overhauling the antitrust status quo. The three central figures—Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) Chair Lina Khan, Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General (“AAG”) Jonathan Kanter, and Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy in the White House Tim Wu—were self-identified neo-Brandeisians, committed to returning antitrust policy to a contemporary version of Justice Louis Brandeis’s ideas. At the urging of Senator Elizabeth Warren, President Biden turned over his Administration’s antitrust policy to the neo-Brandeisians, who vowed to break antitrust’s …

The Law Of Energy Abundance, Alexandra B. Klass, Matthew Appel

Articles

For the first time in decades, electricity demand in the United States is increasing due to the growth of data centers to power artificial intelligence, new manufacturing hubs, and transportation electrification. At the same time, coalfired power plants have been closing in response to competition from lower cost natural gas and renewable energy. Clean energy is being rapidly deployed to replace fossil fuels but not quickly enough to address concerns about demand growth and grid reliability. Accordingly, there is a growing imbalance between electricity supply and demand in many regions of the country that threatens to increase electricity prices and …

Reckoning With Social Policy In Utility Regulation, Alexandra B. Klass, Gabriel Chan

Articles

State public utility regulation in the energy sector is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by public and private investment in clean energy deployment, the corresponding threat to incumbent fossil fuel interests, and growing demands for energy justice. This transformation will impact many aspects of societal well-being—from energy insecurity in disadvantaged communities to dramatic shifts in energy-sector employment—so it is unsurprising that public utility commissions would engage with social policy concerns. However, for decades, state courts and utility stakeholders have admonished commissions that they are economic regulators and that their jurisdiction does not include social policy. This Article shows that state …

The European Health Data Space As A Compass For Academic/Industry Collaborations, Gabriela Lenarczyk, Hannah Louise Smith, W. Nicholson Price Ii

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Against the backdrop of a deepening funding crisis for academic research in the US, how and when can closer relationships between academia and industry better support the research enterprise? Spector-Bagdady (2025) explores this potential response, bringing insight from genetic data sharing between academia and industry—and the benefits and challenges that arise from that sharing. She calls for a response that aligns academic institutional policy to support the realization of any public good, recognizing the pitfalls and problematic incentives that shape individual responses. It’s a timely call, and an attractive one in a time of urgent uncertainty about funding and support. …

Synthetic Data Generation Of Health And Demographic Surveillance Systems Data: A Case Study In A Low- And Middle-Income Country, Dorcas G. Mwigereri, Nigel T. Kamotho, Akbar K. Waljee, Ryan T. Rego, Eileen M. Weinheimer-Haus, Farhana Alarakhiya, Anthony K. Ngugi, W. Nicholson Price, Ji Zhu, Stephen Peter Wong, Geoffrey H. Siwo

Articles

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness of open-source generative models in producing high-quality tabular synthetic data using a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) dataset from rural Kenya, as a proof of concept in a low- and middle-income (LMIC) setting.

Materials and Methods: Three open-source models (CTGAN, TableGAN, and CopulaGAN) were used to generate synthetic data from the Kaloleni/ Rabai HDSS dataset. To assess the quality of the synthetic datasets generated by each model, we performed fidelity, utility, and privacy tests.

Results: CTGAN outperformed the other models, producing synthetic data that closely mirrored the statistical properties of the real dataset while preserving …

The Future Of Ai Regulation In Drug Development: A Comparative Analysis, Gabriela Lenarczyk, Timo Minssen, W. Nicholson Price Ii, Arti Rai

Articles

As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms drug development, regulatory frameworks are evolving to oversee its implementation, particularly at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This paper makes three contributions to understanding emerging regulatory approaches. First, we offer a comparative analysis of how these agencies have responded to AI-driven advances, incorporating new US executive orders and the European Union (EU)’s AI Act. Second, we propose a novel analytical framework to understand regulatory divergence: the FDA’s flexible, dialog-driven model contrasts with the EMA’s structured, risk-tiered approach, reflecting broader institutional and political-economic differences. While the former encourages …

The State Capacity Crisis, David Schleicher, Nicholas Bagley

Articles

Crumbling infrastructure, inadequate housing supply, failing schools, public disorder—few government services seem to work as they should. For a decade, a nascent scholarly movement has been warning that America faces a crisis of state capacity. Although the major figures in this “state capacity movement” have identified the right problem, they concentrate almost exclusively on the federal government. That yields a misdiagnosis of why the American government lacks capacity and leads to solutions that are unlikely to accomplish much. In the United States, it is state and local governments that do most of what “the state” does, and they suffer from …

Fletcher's Uncertainty Principle, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

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am here to talk about the equal protection challenges facing Indian Country. I am going to give you my thesis right off the bat, which is that Haaland v. Brackeen decided the equal protection issue for us already, and we should behave as if it is decided.

I will explain what I mean by that. But first, let’s talk about what we will call the Mancari rule. The Mancari rule is fundamentally what Indian law is about, and it goes something like this—I am going to more or less paraphrase the guiding principle of Morton v. Mancari from 1974. Any …

The Sovereignty Problem In Federal Indian Law, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Articles

There is a sovereignty problem in federal Indian law-namely, that the federal government's sovereign defenses prevent tribal nations and individual Indian people from realizing justice in the courts. Often, compelling tribal and Indian claims go nowhere as the judiciary defers to the interests of the United States, even where Congress has expressly stated its support for tribal interests. Conversely, tribal judiciaries allow claims to proceed to the merits, invoking customary and traditional law to hold tribal governments accountable.

Sovereignty theory helps to explain why justice can be done in one court system but not another. But federal, state, and tribal …

Factor Substitution Possibilities, Labor Share Dynamics, And Inequality In An Age Of Intangibles, Adnan Velic

Articles

We examine the economy-wide degree of substitutability between intangible capital and other factor inputs in production using a large sample of advanced countries. In this context, we turn to studying the implications of intangible and tangible capital growth for labor income share dynamics. Compared to tangible capital, we find that intangible capital more strongly complements skilled labor. The analysis further indicates relative fungibility between tangible capital and a composite of intangible capital and skilled labor, in line with the rising prominence of knowledge-intensive tasks and AI-driven online platforms. The intrinsic nature of intangibles and their asymmetric effects across skilled and …

Exploring The Sustainability Of Single Use Plastics In The Biopharmaceuticals Sector: A Scoping Review Of Challenges, Opportunities And Impact, Cormac Mcmahon, Adrienne F. M. Fleming, Philip Owende, Malcolm Goggin

Articles

Single-use plastics (SUPs) are synonymous with the biopharmaceuticals sector, facilitating economies of scale, process efficiency, flexibility and sterility assurance, all with a seemingly negligible environmental footprint. Yet, in ever-tightening regulation, mandated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and by concern for large-scale industrial impacts, the sustainability of SUP consumption is increasingly being questioned. Whilst the sector contributes to human welfare, its transition risk is unlikely to remain immune to societal pressure for more sustainable production. This paper aims to present a scoping review of the apparent contradiction between sectoral SUP adoption and the increasing importance of circularity. The approach to …

From A Spectrum To Diagnosis: The Integration Of Raman Spectroscopy And Chemometrics Into Hepatitis Diagnostics, Muhammad Kashif, Hugh J. Byrne

Articles

Hepatitis, most importantly hepatitis B and hepatitis C, is a significant global health concern, requiring an accurate and early diagnosis to prevent severe liver damage and ensure effective treatment. The currently employed diagnostic methods, while effective, are often limited in their sensitivity, specificity, and rapidity, and the quest for improved diagnostic tools is ongoing. This review explores the innovative application of Raman spectroscopy combined with a chemometric analysis as a powerful diagnostic tool for hepatitis. Raman spectroscopy offers a non-invasive, rapid, and detailed molecular fingerprint of biological samples, while chemometric techniques enhance the interpretation of complex spectral data, enabling precise …

Wrongful Birth After Dobbs And The Limits Of Tort Law In Areas Of Dissensus, E. Travis Ramey

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As the abortion debate has raged in this country, a secondary debate over wrongful birth has accompanied it. Wrongful birth is a medical-malpractice-like claim brought by parents who allege that a medical provider negligently failed to provide accurate information about the fetus and that had they received accurate information they would have terminated the pregnancy. Courts rejected the tort theory until Roe v. Wade was decided. Post-Roe, courts were heavily divided over whether to recognize the claim and what damages were recoverable. Now, after Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the continued viability of wrongful birth is in question, and …

A Constitutional False Claims Act, Benjamin Mcmichael, Mackenzi Barrett, W. Kip Viscusi

Articles

The False Claims Act (FCA) represents one of the most important sources, if not the most important source, of liability in the healthcare system and other industries that routinely provide goods and services to the federal government. Originally designed to police fraud during the Civil War, the FCA has become a general statute to enforce many other complex legal schemes. Because failure to comply with complicated statutes and regulations can lead to a reimbursement claim being defined as false under the FCA, the FCA serves as a blunt instrument to cudgel those who fail to comply with the minutiae of …

Unfairness, Reconstructed, Luke Herrine

Articles

A paradigm shift is afoot at major federal consumer protection agencies. For four decades, a bipartisan bloc of bureaucrats has seen the purpose of consumer protection as promoting informed consumer choice or "consumer sovereignty." The idea was that informed consumers in competitive markets would protect themselves by choosing among sellers. Ensuring access to information would then shore up markets' self-correcting tendencies without requiring moral judgment. In the past few years, by contrast, regulators have prioritized sector-wide regulation, enforcement sweeps, and strategic cases against market leaders. They have justified their actions not ( exclusively) in terms of informed choice or efficiency …

A Comprehensive Review On Hydrophobic Modification Of Biopolymer Composites For Food Packaging Applications, Sneha Sabu Mathew, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Biopolymers derived from biological sources are safe, abundant, eco-friendly, and economical substitutes for synthetic polymers. However, intrinsic properties of biopolymer films, such as abundant hydrophilic groups, weak mechanical properties, low resistance to heat, and poor barrier properties, need to be addressed to restrict them from being used before employing them for food packaging applications. Hydrophobic modification of biopolymers is crucial to enhance their suitability for food packaging applications. Various approaches, including nanocomposites, essential oil incorporation, and chemical modifications have been investigated to address the limitations of biopolymer packaging materials. Utilizing excipients which are deemed safe for consumption effectively achieves the …

A Comprehensive Review Of The Application Of Cold Plasma Technology In Lignocellulosic Biomass Pretreatment, Rasaq S. Abolore, Swarna Jaiswal, Amit K. Jaiswal

Articles

Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is a promising feedstock for the sustainable production of biofuels and other biobased products, owing to its abundance, low cost, and minimal competition with food crops for resources. It is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin, forming a complex biomass matrix. Its utilization is hindered by its complex structure and pretreatment is required to break down the chemical resistance caused by the strong association between the cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin structures. Conventional methods such as acid and alkali pretreatment are used frequently but they require the use of high temperatures, high pressure, and corrosive chemicals. This …

A Critical Review Of Consumer Perception And Environmental Impacts Of Bioplastics In Sustainable Food Packaging, Junjie Lin, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

As awareness of environmental issues deepens and the demand for sustainability grows among societies, businesses, and consumers, minimizing the environmental impact of food packaging has become increasingly important. Bioplastics offer a promising solution due to their use of renewable resources (such as plants), their biodegradability, and their ability to retain the protective properties of traditional plastics. This review discusses recent advancements and trends in sustainable food packaging, emphasizing the role of bioplastics. Several typical types of bioplastics are introduced, along with an analysis of their advantages and limitations. Furthermore, this study investigates consumers' attitudes toward bioplastic food packaging, emphasizing their …

A Comprehensive Review On Nutritional Composition, Health Benefits, And Industrial Applications Of Jackfruit Seeds, Simran Dhani, Hamid, Nomali Ziphorah Ngobese, Sunny Sharma, Amit K. Jaiswal

Articles

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) is one of the undervalued fruits that is rich in many nutrients not only in the edible parts but also in generated waste such as the seed and peel. Seeds of jackfruit are usually considered as waste (15 %) but are rich in protein, starch as well as various bioactive compounds. Among the bioactive components, phenolics like catechin, ferulic acid, epicatechin, rutin, and gallic acid, are a few which possess many health-promoting properties. These bioactive compounds hold high antioxidant capacity and various pharmacological properties which lower the risk of various diseases by reducing free radical generation. …

Hypnosis And Mindfulness Audio Recordings For Reducing Fatigue In Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Study, Mark P. Jensen, Susan Robles, Michael G. Nash, Susanne May, Dwan M. Ehde, Melissa A. Day, Owen Gottlieb, Laurence I. Sugarman, Kevin N. Alschuler

Articles

Background

Fatigue is a common problem in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective

The objective was to evaluate the effects on fatigue of having 4 weeks of

access to audio recordings of therapeutic hypnosis (HYP) and mindfulness meditation

(MM) practices.

Methods

A total of 333 individuals with MS and fatigue were randomly assigned to

one of the three treatment conditions for 28 weeks: (1) access to therapeutic HYP audio

recordings, (2) access to MM audio recordings, or (3) no access to recordings

(treatment as usual or TAU). Fatigue impact (primary outcome) and other outcomes

were assessed at 4, 16, and …

Accuracy And Repeatability Of Autorefraction In Young Adults: A Comparison Of Cycloplegic And Non-Cycloplegic Methods, Megan Doyle, Veronica O'Dwyer O'Dwyer, Michael Moore, Síofra Harrington

Articles

Clinical Relevance: Cycloplegic refraction remains crucial in young adults, where accommodative activity can obscure accurate refractive status. Autorefractor repeatabil­ity is essential for precise optical correction and refractive error categorisation in clinical and research settings.

Background: Cycloplegic autorefraction is recommended for individuals up to 20 years to prevent hyperopia underestimation and myopia overestimation. This study evaluated differences between non-cycloplegic and cycloplegic spherical equivalent refraction following cyclopentolate hydrochloride (cycloplegic agent) administration in young adults. This study also explored whether this difference varied by refractive status (hyperopia (≥1.00D), emmetropia ( >−0.50, < 1.00D), myopia (≤-0.50D)) or pre- instillation of proxymetacaine hydrochloride and whether cycloplegia improved autorefractor repeatability.

Methods: Participants were 182 young adults (17–30 years) (mean (standard deviation): 21.66 …

High Tech Touts, Sherman J. Clark

Articles

This essay has three interrelated aims. First, it articulates a set of capacities I call virtues of attention—capacities for intuitive discernment, good judgment about what is worth sustained focus, and the ability to engage deeply with worthwhile things. These are eudaimonist virtues in that they help us live well, not merely act rightly. Second, the essay explores what I call poisonous persuasion: the idea that rhetorical appeals, especially those used in marketing, may not only succeed by appealing to certain desires or habits of mind but may also deepen and entrench them. Third, I bring these insights together to examine …

Consensus And Conflict Over Context: Select Criminal Law And Procedure Cases From The Supreme Court's 2024-25 Term, Eve Brensike Primus, Elena Schultz

Articles

In its 2024-2025 Term, the Supreme Court emphasized the utility—and necessity—of context-based, fact-sensitive analyses throughout its criminal law and procedure cases. Though the Justices sparred over how to derive meaning from factual, structural, legal, and historical contexts, they tended to agree that courts should not be artificially restricted from considering the breadth of the record before them.

Co-Constructing The Future Of Digital Intimacy, Chris Geeng, Lucy Qin, Allison Mcdonald, Amna Batool, Diana Freed, Oliver L. Haimson, Jevan Hutson, Elissa M. Redmiles, Zahra Stardust, Miranda Wei, Douglas Zytko

Articles

The Internet, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies have transformed the way humans can interact with each other and express romance, sex, and other forms of intimacy. Digital intimacy, including online dating, sexual/intimate content sharing, online sex work, and romantic chatbots, has grown ubiquitous. This can both be a source of great joy, such as when connecting remote partners and supporting sexual self-expression, and a source of harms, including but not limited to image-based sexual abuse, deepfakes, location privacy violations, and technology-enabled intimate partner violence. As new technologies continue to transform digital intimacy, this workshop aims to create a sex-positive …

Statutory Liquidation, Daniel Deacon

Articles

When might practice by the political branches settle the meaning of legal text? That question has mostly been taken up in the constitutional setting, with one strand of scholarship taking inspiration from Madison's statement in Federalist No. 37, that "{a}ll new laws ... are considered as more or less obscure and equivocal until their meaning be liquidated and ascertained by a series ef particular discussions and aqjudications." The prospect that post-enactment practice might liquidate the meaning of statutory text has been comparatively underexamined. That's not surprising. Under modern textualism, post-enactment considerations would seem to have little place. And under Chevron …

Examining State Climate Superfund Legislation, Madison Calhoun, Rachel Rothschild, Jonathan Binder, Elenda Mihaly, Justin Mankin, Ben Lippard, Mary Wood

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There has been an influx of “climate superfund” bills introduced and adopted in state legislatures across the country. Modeled after the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), these laws are designed to recover costs from large emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to pay for climate adaptation infrastructure. Following CERCLA’s strict liability framework, major polluters in New York and Vermont would be required to pay into state-managed funds in proportion to their shares of total GHG emissions; California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon have proposed similar bills. On March 19, 2025, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a …

Nanaboozhoo And Derrick Bell Go For A Walk, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Articles

When the Anishinaabeg were new to Anishinaabewaki, they knew little about how to fend for themselves. The animals and plants took pity on them and taught the Anishinaabeg. One winter, as the food stores of the Anishinaabeg were running out, an ininaatig (maple tree) saw an Anishinaabe innini (man) weakly scavenge for food. The ininaatig decided to offer part of itself to the Anishinaabeg. The ininaatig told the innini to cut off a branch. Ininaatigwabo, delicious, thick maple syrup, oozed from the stump. There was enough to feed the innini for many days. And there were many, many ininaatigoog …

Decision-Making Supports And Cognitive Decline, Rebekah Diller

Articles

For persons with a range of cognitive disabilities, supported decision-making, rooted in a human rights approach to disability, has emerged as a tool that permits them to make legally binding decisions and avoid guardianship. As supported decision-making policy has evolved in the United States, state statutes have primarily focused on formal agreements through which individuals can designate trusted supporters to assist in obtaining information, processing that information, and communicating a decision. This Article argues that supported decision-making has promise for preserving the autonomy of persons living with dementia, but that the model of a supported decisionmaking agreement embodied in the …

The Impossibility Of Religious Equality, Zalman Rothschild

Articles

The Supreme Court has recently adopted a new rule of religious equality: Laws unconstitutionally discriminate against religion when they deny religious exemptions but provide secular exemptions that undermine the law’s interests to the same degree as would a religious exemption. All the Justices and a cadre of scholars have agreed in principle with this approach to religious equality. This Essay argues that this new rule of religious equality is inherently unworkable, in part because it turns on treating that which is religious the same as its secular “comparators.” But religion is not comparable to anything neither in terms of its …