Digital Commons Network^™

Do Specialized Medical Llms Demand A Radically New Approach Under The Eu's Medical Device Regulation, Hannah Louise Smith, W. Nicholson Price Ii

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We examine the arguments made by Onitiu and colleagues concerning the need to adopt a “backward-walking logic” to manage the risks arising from the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) adapted for a medical purpose. We examine what lessons can be learned from existing multi-use technologies and applied to specialized LLMs, notwithstanding their novelty, and explore the appropriate respective roles of device providers and regulators within the ecosystem of technological oversight.

Reparations For Colonialism: Beyond Legal Responsibility, Steven R. Ratner

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Reparations for colonialism and colonial-era atrocities have moved from an unrealized demand of citizens, politicians, and thinkers in the Global South to a project with some results in the real world. Key markers include the return of numerous art objects from museums in the Global North to their countries of origin; the release of the Caribbean Community and Common Market’s (CARICOM) proposal for reparations; and Namibia’s agreement with Germany on compensation for the German genocide against the Herero people in 1904–08 —along with the resultant controversy. These developments follow earlier claims for reparations directed to—and their eventual acceptance by—the governments …

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

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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 …

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

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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 …

Was The Niit A Treaty Override?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

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Three court decisions have recently addressed the interaction of the NetInvestment Income Tax (NIIT) and U.S. tax treaties. The issue waswhether the treaty provided an independent basis for crediting a foreigntax against the NIIT, because no such credit is available under the Code.First,in Toulouse, the Tax Court held that there was no treaty-based credit.Second,in Christensen, the Court of Federal Claims held that a treaty-based credit wasavailable, distinguishing Toulouse.Third, in Bruyea, the Court of Federal Claimsissued a broader opinion that allowed the credit.

Math And Aftermath: Impacts Of Unbundling A Large Journal Package On Researcher Perceptions And Behavior, Kizer S. Walker, Adam Chandler, Caitlin Finlay, Gabriela Castro Gessner, Tobi Hines, Jesse Koennecke, Susan Kendrick, Leah Mcewen, Jacob Sayward, Henrik W.W. Spoon

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This study seeks to understand the effects on researchers’ work at a large research university in the wake of the university library’s shift from a near-comprehensive journals package with a single, large publisher to a selective list of individual journal subscriptions. Analyzing historical journal usage, along with turnaway and interlibrary loan trends from the years following the changes, the authors made use of structured interviews with local researchers to bring context and meaning to the quantitative data. The interviews highlighted researchers’ strategies for gaining access to literature in their fields to which the library does not subscribe, and revealed assumptions …

Scientific And Technical Expertise After Loper Bright, Sapna Kumar

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Courts once trusted federal agencies for their expertise in administering complex statutory schemes, particularly regarding science and technology. Unlike judges, agency officials can narrowly focus on a specific area of law and have access to experts to inform their decision making. In Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the Supreme Court created a presumption that, absent language to the contrary, Congress intends for agencies to interpret statutory ambiguities. Chevron allowed agencies to utilize their varied forms of expertise while ensuring oversight from generalist judges. This court–agency partnership abruptly ended, however, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Court …

Review Of Cultural Legal Studies Of Science Fiction, Jacob Sayward

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No abstract provided.

Fairness In Contract Law: An Impossibility Theorem?, Francesco Parisi, Brian H. Bix

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Scholars have long debated whether contract law should prioritize maximizing efficiency and social welfare or, instead, prioritize justice, fairness and other deontological values. The debate is partly prescriptive (what should we try to do with contract law rules) and partly conceptual (how should we understand contract law). This article surveys central positions in this debate, distinguishing between the corrective and redistributive functions of contract law and between doing justice between the parties and more systemic effects. It highlights an impossibility theorem that underscores the self-defeating nature of redistributive policies in price-based contractual relationships, using a numerical example and two policy …

The Necessary And Proper Clause And The Law Of Administration, Ilan Wurman

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The Necessary and Proper Clause authorizes Congress to establish and shape the administrative state. But the Necessary and Proper Clause is rarely cited in the relevant Supreme Court opinions or litigant briefs. This is a mistake. In several of the Court’s recent prominent cases, the Necessary and Proper Clause’s meaning and effect could have been dispositive. This Article makes that case. It demonstrates that there are plausible arguments against the Supreme Court’s removal and Seventh Amendment jurisprudence as they relate to public administration, though this Article takes no strong position on those arguments. The Court recently and correctly held, on …

Economic History And The Remaking Of Family Law, June R. Carbone, Naomi Cahn

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In looking at the history of family law, we locate family law – and the status of women and children within it – as a function of political economy. That is, family law is shaped by a societal system that allocates access to, and control of, sources of wealth, decision-making power, and responsibility for dependents. As the nature of family assets has changed from land to male wage labor to two incomes and a complex set of complementary employer and state-provided benefits, so too have family dynamics and, ultimately, family law. They have evolved into the contemporary system, with a …

Legal Civil War, June Carbone, Nancy Levit, Naomi Cahn

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In an era of partisan polarization in which each side sees the other as illegitimate and a threat to the nation and its values, the term “civil war” is often brandished, from state and federal immigration battles to abortion access to election disputes. Civil war, as used in these contexts, does not necessarily raise the specter of armed confrontation between rival armies but does suggest divisions so deep that they threaten the nation’s ability to endure. This Essay introduces the concept of a legal civil war to describe conflicts within a country where rival factions defy the established rule of …

Standardization And Accuracy Of Race And Ethnicity Data: Equity Implications For Medical Ai, Alexandra Tsalidis, Lakshmi Bharadwaj, Francis X. Shen

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Abstract

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into healthcare has raised many concerns about race bias in AI models. Yet, overlooked in this dialogue is the lack of quality control for the accuracy of patient race and ethnicity (r/e) data in electronic health records (EHR). This article critically examines the factors driving inaccurate and unrepresentative r/e datasets. These include conceptual uncertainties about how to categorize races and ethnicity, shortcomings in data collection practices, EHR standards, and the misclassification of patients’ race or ethnicity. To address these challenges, we propose a two-pronged action plan. First, we present a set of …

Ai Assistance In Legal Analysis: An Empirical Study, Jonathan H. Choi, Daniel Benjamin Schwarcz

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No abstract provided.

In Memoriam: Robert D. Cooter, Francesco Parisi

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The International Review of Law & Economics is publishing these notes in memory and celebration of Robert D. Cooter—its Editor from 1988 to 2004—offering brief reflections on him as teacher, scholar, and exemplar. A giant of law and economics, Robert D. Cooter combined breadth with creative insight: he helped build a systematic economic understanding of torts, contracts, and property, a novel approach to public law and Constitutional design, and opened new frontiers on the interaction between law and social norms and on the expressive power of law. His humanity and scholarly ethos—curiosity, humor, and intellectual honesty—left a lasting mark on …

Core Skills & "Cool Tools" From The Third Generation Of Fcil Librarians, Meredith Capps, Clement Lin, Devan Orr, Alison A. Shea, Loren Turner, Latia Ward

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There have been three generations of foreign, comparative, and international law (FCIL) librarians in the United States (US) in the postwar era. FCIL librarians of the first generation were foreign lawyers who emigrated to the US after World War II. Those of the second generation were American lawyer-librarians who built the infrastructure of FCIL librarianship into what it is today. The third generation of FCIL librarians includes the authors of this article. We perform many of the same research tasks as our predecessors, but we do so primarily online through an ever-evolving array of new and emerging technologies. This article …

Analysis Of Chloride, Nitrite And Nitrate In Processed Meat Using Microwave Extraction And Two-Dimensional Ion Chromatography, Bradley Afanda, Christine O'Connor, Mary Moloney, Karl De Ruyck, Martin Danaher

Articles

A novel two dimensional ion chromatography (2D-IC) method employing suppressed conductivity (chloride) and UV (nitrite and nitrate) detection was developed, validated, and applied for the simultaneous detection and analysis of these compounds at trace levels in processed meats. Samples were extracted by microwave-assisted aqueous digestion, combined with automated inline solid phase extraction (SPE) to enhance sample preparation sensitivity and effectiveness while reducing costs. Mean recoveries for all analytes exceeded 91 %, with a mean coefficient of variation below 1.5 %. Analysis of processed meats from four major Irish retailers revealed chloride levels range from 5.2 to 35.6 g/kg, with nitrite …

The Immigration Subpoena Power, Lindsay Nash

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For over a century, the federal government has wielded the immigration subpoena power in darkness, forcing private individuals, subfederal governments, and others to help it detain and deport. This vast administrative power has remained opaque even to those who receive these subpoenas and invisible to those it affects most. Indeed, the very people targeted by these subpoenas often don’t know they exist, much less how they facilitate arrest and deportation. For these reasons—and more—this power has escaped the legal battles raging over other immigration enforcement tactics and the scrutiny of journalists, scholars, and courts. Thus, as state- and locality-held information …

Decision-Making Supports And Cognitive Decline, Rebekah Diller

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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 …

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. …

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 …

“How Do You Do It?” : Shifting Points Of View For Diverse Perspectives, Sue Norton

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No abstract provided.

Somewhere Between Feminism And Misogyny: Classic Updike On The Modern Syllabus, Sue Norton

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Beginning with a retrospective approach, this essay navigates key works of literary criticism relevant to a small selection of John Updike’s most well-known fiction, his novel Rabbit, Run (1960) and two of his short stories “A&P” (1961) and “Separating” (1975), the three of which have frequently appeared on college syllabi. Through close readings, its aim is to provide a basis for classroom discussion about the misogynistic tone of Updike’s works so that professors of English and literary studies can confidently adapt their lesson plans and approaches in ways that are cognizant of today’s sensibilities on issues pertaining to girls, women, …

The Abuse Of Neutrality, Rebecca Ingber

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Neutrality law is a musty and obsolete body of international law that nevertheless rears its creaky head now and again in dangerous ways, most recently in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The law of neutrality is a study in contradictions. It is obsolete yet remains on the books in treaties and military manuals. It purports to keep the peace and protect non-warring states yet today is invoked to expand conflict and protect aggressors. The legal benefits of neutrality have been entirely overtaken by other regimes. And yet neutrality law has not lost its luster despite losing its value. Instead of letting it …

Preface, Prianka Nair, Saskia Valencia

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No abstract provided.

Law, Conflict, And Hybrid Warfare: A Teaching Imperative For A Changing World, Cynthia Alkon, Andrea K. Schneider

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Lawyers increasingly find themselves at the frontlines of the battlefield, just not in the traditional sense. Hybrid warfare is a conflict form that combines traditional military offensive measures with nontraditional methods, including the harnessing of legal systems to achieve strategic goals. Lawyers have always been at the frontline of typical legal risk assessment, thinking about a client's risk of liability or regulation costs generally. Now, lawyers must stand at the ready for a lot more: lawyers must be prepared for cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns using artificial intelligence, the use of court systems to suppress reporting or shield bad actors, and so …

Developing Porous Hip Implants Implementing Topology Optimization Based On The Bone Remodelling Model And Fatigue Failure., Babak Ziaie, Xavier Velay, Waqas Saleem

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No abstract provided.

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation Of Slanted Volume Transmission Gratings For Holographic Gas Sensing, Graceson Antony, Dervil Cody, Svetlana Mintova, Izabela Naydenova

Articles

Slanted photopolymer-based diffraction gratings can undergo instant and quantifiable analyte-induced changes in both grating diffraction efficiency and peak reconstruction wavelength. This makes them an attractive option for gas sensing applications. The underlying mechanism for the sensor response is, however, poorly understood due to its complexity; the gaseous analytes produce simultaneous changes in multiple grating parameters (refractive index, thickness, refractive index modulation, and slant angle). Here, a novel and robust approach to the experimental characterization and theoretical analysis of holographic gas sensors based on slanted volume transmission gratings is presented. Slanted transmission gratings were fabricated in both undoped and MFI nanozeolite-doped …