Digital Commons Network^™

History's Identity Crisis, Allison Orr Larsen

Faculty Publications

Lower court judges across the country are struggling to manage the Supreme Court’s new “history and tradition” test that applies to Second Amendment challenges. This Article articulates one fundamental reason for the struggle: nobody is quite sure what a judge is actually doing when she evaluates claims about what happened in the past. Is it traditional legal reasoning— weighing evidence and looking for patterns? Is it fact-finding of the sort we think expert historians should testify about—conveying to a trial judge the best evidence we have about the purpose of colonial gun laws? Or is it a different sort of …

Carceral Bonds, Tyler E. Dougherty

Faculty Publications

Over the past 50 years, the U.S. financed a massive physical and fiscal expansion of prisons via the municipal bond market—with devastating results. This project is the first to shine a light on the role of municipal debt in state-level carceral decision making, spotlighting the ways that the municipal bond market affects states’ capacities to incarcerate.

This Article argues that the two primary controls of states’ use of the carceral bond market—(1) market discipline and (2) states’ fiscal constitutions—are particularly ineffective at limiting states’ spending on prisons. This failure to restrain states’ spending through the carceral bond market enables private …

What Did Gitlow Do?, James Y. Stern

Faculty Publications

Gitlow is generally regarded as the first modern incorporation case, the genesis of both federal free speech curbs on state action and the larger project of making the same limitations that the federal Constitution imposes on the federal government applicable to the states. In both respects, moreover, it can also be seen as an important milestone in the larger twentieth century transformation of federal court practice and constitutional understanding centered on the assertion of individual rights. That linkage is no accident. For all the talk about federalism and state sovereignty in the U.S. Reports, the modern jurisprudence of constitutional rights …

Is Increased Mutation Driving Genetic Diversity In Dogs Within The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone?, Megan N. Dillon, Allison N. Dickey, Reade B. Roberts, Jennifer A. Betz, Timothy Mousseau, Norman J. Kleiman, Matthew Breen

Faculty Publications

Environmental contamination can have lasting impacts on surrounding communities, though the long-term impacts can be difficult to ascertain. The disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 and subsequent remediation efforts resulted in contamination of the local environment with radioactive material, heavy metals, and additional environmental toxicants. Many of these are mutagenic in nature, and the full effect of these exposures on local flora and fauna has yet to be understood. Several hundred free-roaming dogs occupy the contaminated area surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and previous studies have highlighted a striking level of genetic differentiation between two geographically …

Is Increased Mutation Driving Genetic Diversity In Dogs Within The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone?, Megan N. Dillon, Allison N. Dickey, Reade B. Roberts, Jennifer A. Betz, Timothy Mousseau, Norman J. Kleiman, Matthew Breen

Faculty Publications

Environmental contamination can have lasting impacts on surrounding communities, though the long-term impacts can be difficult to ascertain. The disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 and subsequent remediation efforts resulted in contamination of the local environment with radioactive material, heavy metals, and additional environmental toxicants. Many of these are mutagenic in nature, and the full effect of these exposures on local flora and fauna has yet to be understood. Several hundred free-roaming dogs occupy the contaminated area surrounding the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and previous studies have highlighted a striking level of genetic differentiation between two geographically …

The Boris Experience: Evaluating Omnichannel Returns And Repurchase Intention, Jianliang Hao, Robert G. Richey Jr., Tyler R. Morgan, Ian M. Slazinik

Faculty Publications

Researchers have examined the influence of the factors on reducing return rates in retailing over the years. However, the returns experience is often an overlooked way to drive customer engagement and repeat sales in the now ubiquitous omnichannel setting. The focus on returns prevention in existing research overshadows management’s need to understand better the comprehensive mechanics linking the customer in-store return experience with their repurchase actions. Recognizing the need to bridge different stages of the returns management process, this research aims to explore the facilitators and barriers of in-store return activities.

Organic Alkalinity Distributions, Characteristics, And Application To Carbonate System Calculations In Estuarine And Coastal Systems, Christopher W. Hunt, Joseph Salisbury, Xuewu Liu, Robert H. Byrne

Faculty Publications

The capacity of aquatic systems to buffer acidification depends on the sum contributions of various chemical species to total alkalinity (TA). Major TA contributors are inorganic, with carbonate and bicarbonate considered the most important. However, growing evidence shows that many rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters contain dissolved organic molecules with charge sites that create organic alkalinity (OrgAlk). This study describes the first comparison of (1) OrgAlk distributions and (2) acid–base properties in contrasting estuary-plume systems: the Pleasant (Maine, USA) and the St. John (New Brunswick, CA). The substantial concentrations of OrgAlk in each estuary were sometimes not conservative with salinity …

Progerin Can Induce Dna Damage In The Absence Of Global Changes In Replication Or Cell Proliferation, Liza A. Joudeh, P. Logan Schuck, Nina M. Van, Alannah J. Dicintio, Jason A. Stewart, Alan S. Waldman

Faculty Publications

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic condition characterized by features of accelerated aging, and individuals with HGPS seldom live beyond their mid-teens. The syndrome is commonly caused by a point mutation in the LMNA gene which codes for lamin A and its splice variant lamin C, components of the nuclear lamina. The mutation causing HGPS leads to production of a truncated, farnesylated form of lamin A referred to as "progerin." Progerin is also expressed at low levels in healthy individuals and appears to play a role in normal aging. HGPS is associated with an accumulation of genomic DNA …

Utilizing Extractive Transportation Infrastructures For Subsistence Livelihoods: Experience Of Evenki Communities In Eastern Siberia, Vera Kuklina, Viktoriya Filippova, Natalia Krasnoshtanova, Antonina Savvinova, Viktor Bogdanov, Mariia Kuklina

Faculty Publications

The availability of natural resources drives the exploration and transformation of remote regions in the Arctic and beyond. Extractive infrastructure is one of the major sources of industrial development and environmental impact on landscapes. For Indigenous people, these landscapes are homely environments full of sentient beings, and for other local communities, they provide a wide variety of subsistence and hunting resources. While extractive infrastructure violence is the evident issue for many Indigenous communities, there are more complicated situations where extractive infrastructure is adopted and utilized for the subsistence and support of other human and more-than-human relations in local and Indigenous …

Law And Equity On Appeal, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

Most lawyers know that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure merged the divergent trial procedures of the common law and of equity, but fewer are familiar with the development of federal appellate procedure. Here too there is a story of the merger of two distinct systems. At common law, a reviewing court examined the record for errors of law after the final trial judgment. In the equity tradition, an appeal was a rehearing of the law and the facts that aimed at achieving justice and did not need to await a final judgment. Unlike the story of federal trial procedure, …

Truth In Advertising For Environmental Sustainability, Robin M. Rotman, Aidan David-Pennington

Faculty Publications

“Sustainability” is in—but what does that term mean, when applied to products, services or brands? This article explores existing Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) oversight of “sustainable” claims in marketing, centering on the FTC’s Guidelines for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (often referred to as the “Green Guides”). It analyzes thousands of public comments filed in a recent FTC quasi-rulemaking docket to inform proposed revisions to the Green Guides. The article suggests that the FTC include guidance on “sustainable” claims in its next revision to the Green Guides, and further recommends that the FTC formally extend the Green Guides to …

Epitaxial Films And Devices Of Transparent Conducting Oxides: La:Basno3, Prosper Ngabonziza, Arnaud P. Nono Tchiomo

Faculty Publications

This paper reviews recent developments in materials science and device physics of high-quality epitaxial films of the transparent perovskite La-doped barium stannate, La:BaSnO3. It presents current efforts in the synthesis science of epitaxial La:BaSnO3 films for achieving reduced defect densities and high electron mobility at room temperature. We discuss the scattering mechanisms and the route toward engineering defect-free epitaxial La:BaSnO3 heterostructures. By combining chemical surface characterization and electronic transport studies, special emphasis is laid on the proper correlation between the transport properties and the electronic band structure of La:BaSnO3 films and heterostructures. For application purposes, interesting optical properties of La:BaSnO3 …

Identification And Expression Analysis Of Phosphate Transporter 1 (Pht1) Genes In The Highly Phosphorus-Use-Efficient Hakea Prostrata (Proteaceae), Benjamin J. Nestor, Toby Bird, Anita A. Severn-Ellis, Philipp E. Bayer, Kosala Ranathunge, M. Asaduzzaman Prodhan, Maheshi Dassanayake, Jacqueline Batley, David Edwards, Hans Lambers, Patrick M. Finnegan

Faculty Publications

Heavy and costly use of phosphorus (P) fertiliser is often needed to achieve high crop yields, but only a small amount of applied P fertiliser is available to most crop plants. Hakea prostrata (Proteaceae) is endemic to the P-impoverished landscape of southwest Australia and has several P-saving traits. We identified 16 members of the Phosphate Transporter 1 (PHT1) gene family (HpPHT1;1-HpPHT1;12d) in a long-read genome assembly of H. prostrata. Based on phylogenetics, sequence structure and expression patterns, we classified HpPHT1;1 as potentially involved in Pi uptake from soil and HpPHT1;8 and HpPHT1;9 as potentially involved in Pi uptake and root-to-shoot …

The Crystal Structure Of Acinetobacter Baumannii Bacterioferritin Reveals A Heteropolymer Of Bacterioferritin And Ferritin Subunits, Huili Yao, Suliat Alli, Lijun Liu, Anabel Soldano, Anne Cooper, Leo Fontenot, Dristen Verdin, Kevin P. Battaile, Scott Lovell, Mario Rivera

Faculty Publications

Iron storage proteins, e.g., vertebrate ferritin, and the ferritin-like bacterioferritin (Bfr) and bacterial ferritin (Ftn), are spherical, hollow proteins that catalyze the oxidation of Fe²⁺ at binuclear iron ferroxidase centers (FOC) and store the Fe³⁺ in their interior, thus protecting cells from unwanted Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ redox cycling and storing iron at concentrations far above the solubility of Fe³⁺. Vertebrate ferritins are heteropolymers of H and L subunits with only the H subunits having FOC. Bfr and Ftn were thought to coexist in bacteria as homopolymers, but recent evidence indicates these molecules are heteropolymers assembled …

Research Overview On Urban Heat Islands Driven By Computational Intelligence, Chao Liu, Siyu Lu, Jiawei Tian, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the intensification of the urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a significant concern as urbanization accelerates. This survey comprehensively explores the current status of surface UHI research, emphasizing the role of land use and land cover changes (LULC) in urban environments. We conducted a systematic review of 8260 journal articles from the Web of Science database, employing bibliometric analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis using CiteSpace to identify research hotspots and trends. Our investigation reveals that vegetation cover and land use types are the two most critical factors influencing UHI intensity. We analyze various computational intelligence techniques, …

Current Situation And Prospect Of Geospatial Ai In Air Pollution Prediction, Chunlai Wu, Siyu Lu, Jiawei Tian, Lirong Yin, Lei Wang, Wenfeng Zheng

Faculty Publications

Faced with increasingly serious environmental problems, scientists have conducted extensive research, among which the importance of air quality prediction is becoming increasingly prominent. This article briefly reviews the utilization of geographic artificial intelligence (AI) in air pollution. Firstly, this paper conducts a literature metrology analysis on the research of geographical AI used in air pollution. That is, 607 documents are retrieved from the Web of Science (WOS) using appropriate keywords, and literature metrology analysis is conducted using Citespace to summarize research hotspots and frontier countries in this field. Among them, China plays a constructive role in the fields of geographic …

Gleaning Rural Journalism: Rural Journalists' Agricultural And Environmental Reporting Utilizing Community Storytelling Networks☆, Jessica Walsh, Mildred F. Perreault, Greg Perreault, Ruth Moon

Faculty Publications

Environmental concerns are growing in parts of the rural United States as drinking water wells become contaminated with agrichemicals, and climate change impacts such as drought and extreme rain events disrupt farming practices. Analyzing in-depth interviews with 29 U.S. rural journalists, we explore the role rural journalists play when reporting on the environment as it relates to agricultural issues. Findings show that reporting about the environment—such as weather, climate change, water shortages, and droughts—appear in rural journalists' stories given those topics' relevance to their rural communities and the social systems forces exerting influence on journalists, yet rural journalists often do …

Controlling Anti-Asian Conduct On College Campuses: Can Including Ethnic Studies Programs Help?, Hani Morgan

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered hostile acts against Asian college students. One of the ways to respond to these acts is to increase Asian American ethnic studies programs and courses. Although critics argue that ethnic studies cause divisiveness, research indicates that they are beneficial to students from all groups. University administrators may fear implementing these programs because they sometimes associate them with the violence that occurred during the late 1960s when students demanded ethnic studies to be included in the college curriculum. But this to a great extent by the poor representation of racial minority groups in the curriculum and …

Strategic (Non)Disclosure: Activation And Avoidance Of Social Ties Among Women Seeking Abortion, Kathleen Broussard

Faculty Publications

The increased politicization of sexual and reproductive health has created barriers to medically necessary care. In absence of formal health care, social ties become critical sources of information and resources, yet the disclosure of stigmatized health needs carries significant risk. How do people navigate the risks and benefits of disclosure when seeking care for stigmatized needs? Drawing on original survey data (N = 153) and in-depth interviews (N = 55) with women who attempted a self-managed abortion, I first describe the distinct roles of weak and strong ties in women’s health-seeking experiences. I then demonstrate how both partial disclosure and …

Detecting N-Phenyl-2-Naphthylamine, L-Arabinose, D-Mannose, L-Phenylalanine, L-Methionine, And D-Trehalose Via Photocurrent Measurement, Feng Li, Ruoxi Yang, Jian Xu, Guohai Xu, Ye Wu

Faculty Publications

The concentration of small molecules reflects the normality of physiological processes in the human body, making the development of simple and efficient detection equipment essential. In this work, inspired by a facile strategy in point-of-care detection, two devices were fabricated to detect small molecules via photocurrent measurement. A linear response of the photocurrent against the concentration of the small molecules was found. In the first device, metal ions were introduced into gel substrates made by xanthan gum to enhance photocurrent response. N-phenyl-2-naphthylamine was measured when iron or manganese ions were used. L-Phenylalanine was measured when the gel was modified by …

Introducing The Second-Order Features Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology For Neural Ordinary Differential Equations—I: Mathematical Framework, Dan Gabriel Cacuci

Faculty Publications

This work introduces the mathematical framework of the novel “First-Order Features Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology for Neural Ordinary Differential Equations” (1st-FASAM-NODE). The 1st-FASAM-NODE methodology produces and computes most efficiently the exact expressions of all of the first-order sensitivities of NODE-decoder responses with respect to the parameters underlying the NODE’s decoder, hidden layers, and encoder, after having optimized the NODE-net to represent the physical system under consideration. Building on the 1st-FASAM-NODE, this work subsequently introduces the mathematical framework of the novel “Second-Order Features Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology for Neural Ordinary Differential Equations (2nd-FASAM-NODE)”. The 2nd-FASAM-NODE methodology efficiently computes the exact expressions …

The Relationship Between A Transient Scientific Phenomenon And Local Journalism At The Beginning Of The Gilded Age, Thomas Hockey

Faculty Publications

In the United States, the nineteenth century was the halcyon era for local newspapers. These publications were the primary source of public information at a time when other periodicals and books had low circulation. The purpose of this paper is to explore how local journalism in the nineteenth-century United States dealt with an occasion outside the boundaries of the commonplace: an unfamiliar natural phenomenon. My example is the total solar eclipse of 7 August 1869. Editors and journalists of the time largely were unaccustomed to covering celestial events. Nevertheless, they sensed—correctly—an interest in the solar eclipse. Articles about the approaching …

Introducing The Second-Order Features Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology For Neural Ordinary Differential Equations—Ii: Illustrative Application To Heat And Energy Transfer In The Nordheim–Fuchs Phenomenological Model For Reactor Safety, Dan Gabriel Cacuci

Faculty Publications

This work presents an illustrative application of the newly developed “Second-Order Features Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Methodology for Neural Ordinary Differential Equations (2nd-FASAM-NODE)” methodology to determine most efficiently the exact expressions of the first- and second-order sensitivities of NODE decoder responses to the neural net’s underlying parameters (weights and initial conditions). The application of the 2nd-FASAM-NODE methodology will be illustrated using the Nordheim–Fuchs phenomenological model for reactor safety, which describes a short-time self-limiting power transient in a nuclear reactor system having a negative temperature coefficient in which a large amount of reactivity is suddenly inserted. The representative model responses that will …

Roman History In Sibylline Oracle 13: A Palestinian Jewish Perspective On Emperors, Usurpers, And Saviors During The Third Century Ce (Part One: From Maximus I “Thrax” To Philip I “The Arab”), Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

The period commonly known as the “Crisis of the Third Century” (235-284 CE) began with the assassination of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander (222-235 CE), the last ruler of the Severan dynasty. This turbulent era was marked by nearly fifty years of civil war, barbarian invasions, rebellions, and political and social unrest caused by approximately twenty-six claimants to the imperial throne. Although the end of this age of disorder under Diocletian (284-305 CE) is well-known, we have little information about much of the third century CE, particularly its first decades. This study examines book 13 of the Sibylline oracles, which …

Behind The Screen: Exploring Parental Roles In K-12 Online Education, Barbara T. Sandberg, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Richard E. West, Rocio Quiroga Velasquez

Faculty Publications

Independent engagement can be challenging for K-12 online students. Parents’ physical presence makes them an important source of engagement support. Previous research on parental support in online courses is limited and focused on asynchronous learning within a single program. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online enrollments have grown and instructional modalities have evolved. To better understand parental support post-Covid, we interviewed 21 parents across eight online programs with asynchronous, synchronous, and bichronous course offerings. Parents identified their affective, behavioral, cognitive, and other support roles. Implications for parental roles in addressing the academic engagement gap are provided to both researchers and practitioners.

Redressing Judicial Misbehavior: An Integrated Approach To Judicial Immunity, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

Immunities generate intense public interest and controversy. Whether it is the sweeping presidential immunity that former President Trump has claimed or the qualified immunity that rogue police invoke to evade financial responsibility for their brutality, immunities stand as a highly contested aspect of the American legal system. Judicial immunity incites similar controversy. American judges possess absolute immunity from civil suits for their judicial acts, so victims are barred from seeking civil compensation, even against judges who engage in purposeful or malicious misconduct from the bench. For decades scholars have sought to curtail absolute judicial immunity, but they have overlooked a …

Preserving The Future Of Juries And Jury Trials, Paula Hannaford-Agor, Hope Forbush, Miriam Hamilton, Jawwaad Johnson, Morgan Moffett

Faculty Publications

To preserve the future of juries and jury trials, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) convened a meeting of representatives from a broad array of justice system stakeholders as a project under the Justice for All Reauthorization Act (JFARA). To frame the stakeholder discussions, NCSC employed strategic foresight, a methodological approach designed to explore a range of possible futures of juries and jury trials within the American justice system as a vehicle for identifying critical vulnerabilities within the current jury system and proposing targeted strategies to preserve and strengthen jury trials. Critical vulnerabilities are those areas of weakness that …

Human Capital Assessment In Indigenous Regions To Enable Sustainable Futures, Victoria N. Sharakhmatova, Elena G. Mikhailova

Faculty Publications

This study is dedicated to the economic valuation of human capital (HC) in the regions where the Indigenous peoples of Kamchatka reside. The entire Kamchatksky Krai is considered an Indigenous people’s ancestral territory. However, in this study, only municipalities whose population is more than one-third Indigenous were chosen for the assessment. This includes six municipal districts and one urban district (Aleytsky, Bystrinsky, Karaginsky, Olyutorsky, Penzhinsky, and Tigilsky municipal districts and Palana urban district). The study employs statistical analysis and integrated, situational approaches: the investment approach was deemed the most appropriate tool for the economic assessment of HC in Indigenous territories. …

Motivational Dysregulation With Melanocortin 4 Receptor Haploinsufficiency, Alex M. Steiner, Robert F. Roscoe, Rosemarie M. Booze, Charles F. Mactutus

Faculty Publications

Obesity, by any standard, is a global health crisis. Both genetic and dietary contributions to the development and maintenance of obesity were integral factors of our experimental design. As mutations of the melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4R) are the leading monogenetic cause of obesity, MC4R haploinsufficient rats were fed a range of dietary fat (0–12 %) in a longitudinal design. Physiological and motivational assessments were performed using a locomotor task, a 5-choice sucrose preference task, an operant task with fixed and progressive ratios, as well as a distraction operant task. Dendritic spine morphology of medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the nucleus …

The Suppression Of Ocean Waves By Biogenic Slicks, Nathan J. M. Laxague, Christopher Zappa, Shantanu Soumya, Oliver Wurl

Faculty Publications

Surface waves are significantly damped by biogenic surfactants which accumulate at the ocean's surface from the high latitudes to the tropics. The growth, development, and breaking of short wind-driven surface waves is a key mediator of the air-sea exchange of momentum, heat, and trace gases consequently, the effect of surfactant compounds in the uppermost millimeters of the ocean in damping short surface waves bears on earth's climatic processes. The mechanisms through which surfactants suppress waves have been studied in great detail through careful laboratory experimentation in quasi one-dimensional wave tanks. However, the spatial scales over which this damping occurs in …