Digital Commons Network^™

Recent Developments Affecting The Salt Cap, Including And Appellate Court Decision Upholding The Cap's Constitutionality, Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

The $10,000 annual limitation on the deduction of state and local taxes (the so-called SALT cap), which was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, has been the subject of much political and legal scrutiny. This article describes some of the recent debates, examines some state responses to the cap, and discusses litigation that culminated in a Second Circuit decision, New York v. Yellen, concluding that the cap meets constitutional requirements.

Emily Lemoine Loveridge (1860-1941): Pioneer And Leader In Nursing, Pamela Wheeler

Faculty Publications

The life of Emily L. Loveridge reflects the context of the times in which she practiced as a nurse and assumed leadership roles as a superintendent of nurses and subsequently a hospital superintendent. Over the course of her remarkable 40-year career, she would begin the first training program for nurses in the Northwest and shepherd a foundling hospital from a wooden structure housing 50 patients to a brick structure of over 330 beds. She would also advance the professionalization of nursing while contributing significantly to a variety of professional organizations.

As an 1889 graduate of Bellevue Hospital in New York …

Overview Of Multi-Factor Prediction Using Deep Neural Networks, Machine Learning, And Their Open-Source Software, Richard S. Segall

Faculty Publications

This chapter first provides an overview with examples of what neural networks (NN), machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) are and their applications in biomedical and business situations. The characteristics of 29 types of neural networks are provided including their distinctive graphical illustrations. A survey of current open-source software (OSS) for neural networks, neural network software available for free trail download for limited time use, and open-source software (OSS) for machine learning (ML) are provided. Characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for machine learning available as open source are discussed. Illustrations of applications of neural networks, machine learning, and …

In God’S House, There Are Many Rooms: A University Minister Reflects Upon Fratelli Tutti., Melanie-Prejean Sullivan

Faculty Publications

For over fifty years, Roman Catholics who are interreligious leaders have been guided by the Second Vatican Council document, Nostra Aetate. The author, a retired university lay minister in the United States, was one such interreligious leader who worked with students, faculty, and staff of all faiths and none on a small Catholic campus to create an atmosphere open to diversity, inclusion, and respect for all. Her office facilitated campus programs that encouraged service, dialogue, and spiritual growth. In twenty years, campus ministry involvement grew from three dozen primarily Catholic students to over 400 students of many different faiths. …

Kinetics And Connectivity Properties Of Parvalbumin- And Somatostatin-Positive Inhibition In Layer 2/3 Medial Entorhinal Cortex, Fernando R. Fernandez, Guillem Via, Carmen C. Canavier, John A. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Geomorphic And Hydrodynamic Impacts On Sediment Transport On The Inner Louisiana Shelf, K. Xu, J. Wang, C. Li, S.J. Bentley, M.D. Miner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Biological And Geochemical Proxies In Sediment Cores Reveal Shifts In Marine Predator Population Dynamics Relative To Historic Anthropogenic Exploitation And Recent Climate Change At South Georgia Island Sub-Antarctic, Allyson K. Kristan, Kanchan Maiti, Kelton W. Mcmahon, Michael A. Dance, Michael J. Polito

Faculty Publications

Historical climate change and human exploitation are thought to have played important roles in shaping population dynamics of sub-Antarctic marine predators, such as king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) and Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazelle). For example, Antarctic fur seals on the sub-Antarctic South Georgia Island were nearly hunted to extinction by humans before the early 1900s. However, records of occupation history pre- and post-anthropogenic stress are often sporadic and challenging to interpret. In this study, we investigated paleoecological proxies in sediment cores from South Georgia Island to examine past marine predator population dynamics in the face of climate change and exploitation …

Estimating Water Transport From Short-Term Vessel-Based And Long-Term Bottom-Mounted Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Measurements In An Arctic Lagoon Connected To The Beaufort Sea, Chunyan Li, Kevin Mershon Boswell

Faculty Publications

Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) are quasi-remote sensing instruments widely used in oceanography to measure velocity profiles continuously. One of the applications is the quantification of land–ocean exchange, which plays a key role in the global cycling of water, heat, and materials. This exchange mostly occurs through estuaries, lagoons, and bays. Studies on the subject thus require that observations of total volume or mass transport can be achieved. Alternatively, numerical modeling is needed for the computation of transport, which, however, also requires that the model is validated properly. Since flows across an estuary, lagoon, or bay are usually non-uniform and …

Survey Of Applications Of Neural Networks And Machine Learning To Covid-19 Predictions, Richard S. Segall

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have been used for COVID-19 detection and analysis. Specifically, the use of neural networks (NN) and machine learning (ML) are described along with which countries are creating these techniques and how these are being used for COVID-19 diagnosis and detection. Illustrations of multi-layer convolutional neural networks (CNN), recurrent neural networks (RNN), and deep neural networks (DNN) are provided to show how these are used for COVID-19 detection and prediction. A summary of big data analytics for COVID-19 and some available COVID-19 open-source data sets and repositories and …

Fake It Until You Make It!: The Crimes And Trial Of Anna Sorokin (Delvey), Angelo Kevin Brown

Faculty Publications

The chapter will provide an overview of the life, crimes, and trial of Anna Sorokin better known as Anna Delvey. Anna had invented a false persona and life so that people would think she was a rich German heiress instead of her real identity of a woman from a working-class Russian family. Anna used her false identity to defraud banks, hotels, and friends for about $275,000. Anna's life became internationally known with her story being published in major news and media articles including podcasts, 60 Minutes, HBO, a $300,000 book deal to her former friend Rachel Williams, and a $320,000 …

U.S. Foreign Relations Law From The Outside In, Ryan M. Scoville

Faculty Publications

Arguments in the field of U.S. foreign relations law typically proceed from the inside out: legal actors focus on internal (domestic) sources of authority to reach conclusions with significant external (international) implications. The text and structure of the Constitution, case law, legislative intent, assessments of institutional competency, and historical practice thus dominate debates about treaty-making, war powers, diplomatic authorities, and related matters. This tendency reflects generic assumptions about the proper modalities of legal analysis and helps to ensure that the law reflects national values.

Yet inside-out arguments overlook a critical fact: the practical merits of U.S. foreign relations law often …

The Havoc Death Wreaks: Civil Rights Challenges To Capital Punishment, Bailey D. Barnes

Faculty Publications

Following a per curium opinion that banned the imposition of capital punishment because it violated the Eighth Amendment, as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall offered a unique criticism of capital punishment. Justice Marshall, an iconic civil rights litigator prior to his confirmation to the Court, stated, "[T]he death penalty wreaks havoc with our entire criminal justice system." Similarly, sometime in the late 1950s, Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson reportedly said that capital punishment "completely bitches up the criminal law." In essence, both Justices were asserting that the death penalty …

Solving The Procedural Puzzles Of The Texas Heartbeat Act And Its Imitators: The Limits And Opportunities For Offensive Litigation, Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes, Howard M. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

Texas' Fetal Heartbeat Act, enacted in 2021 as Senate Bill 8, prohibits abortions following detection of a fetal heartbeat, a constitutionally invalid ban under current Supreme Court precedent. But the method of enforcement in the Texas law is unique—it prohibits enforcement by government officials in favor of private civil actions brought by “any person,” regardless of injury. Texas sought to burden reproductive-health providers and rights advocates with costly litigation and potentially crippling liability.

In a series of articles, we explore how SB8's exclusive reliance on private enforcement creates procedural and jurisdictional hurdles to challenging the law's constitutional validity and obtaining …

A Declaration Of Rights Lost: The Diminution Of Tennesseans' Civil Rights, Bailey D. Barnes

Faculty Publications

The Constitution of the State of Tennessee, in its current form, offers to the citizens of the Volunteer State a "Declaration of Rights" that prevents abuses by those in power against the governed. To paraphrase late Associate United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Tennessee Constitution, which was adopted following the state's secession from and eventual return to the United States during the Civil War, continues to serve as the charter of Tennesseans' liberties. Indeed, the Tennessee Constitution's Declaration of Rights proclaims in the very first section, "[A]ll power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are …

Solving The Procedural Puzzles Of Texas’ Fetal-Heartbeat Law And Its Imitators: The Potential For Defensive Litigation, Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes, Howard M. Wasserman

Faculty Publications

Texas' Fetal Heartbeat Act, enacted in 2021 as Senate Bill 8, prohibits abortions following detection of a fetal heartbeat, a constitutionally invalid ban under current Supreme Court precedent. But the method of enforcement in the Texas law is unique—it prohibits enforcement by government officials in favor of private civil actions brought by “any person,” regardless of injury. Texas sought to burden reproductive-health providers and rights advocates with costly litigation and potentially crippling liability.

In a series of articles, we explore how SB8's exclusive reliance on private enforcement creates procedural and jurisdictional hurdles to challenging the law's constitutional validity and obtaining …

Resorbing Patent Law's Kessler Cat Into The General Law Of Preclusion, Dennis D. Crouch, Homayoon Rafatijo

Faculty Publications

It has become exceedingly common in our legal system that courts, in the guise of respect for precedent, compound upon errors. Legal precedents are written documents, but "[t]he reality we can put into words is never reality itself." As such, we seldom find a court decision that embodies the entire legal reality regarding the questions presented. In this respect, the legal system inherently suffers from a lack of what mathematicians call completeness. Each decision gives rise to countless inferences because what lower courts observe by reading the precedent is not the entire legal reality but an incomplete reality exposed to …

Review Of The Twilight World, Michael Russo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Financially Constrained Mortgage Servicers, Darren Aiello

Faculty Publications

Financially constrained mortgage servicers destroyed substantial MBS investor value during the financial crisis through their management of delinquent mortgages. Servicers advance to investors monthly payments missed by borrowers. In order to minimize this obligation to extend financing to distressed borrowers, constrained servicers aggressively pursued foreclosures and modifications at the expense of investors, borrowers, and future mortgage performance. When agency frictions between the servicer and the investor are higher, the servicer’s financial constraints matter more. IV regressions suggest that, on average per defaulted loan, servicers’ financial constraints are responsible for 20% of the total investor value reduction during the financial crisis.

The Fourth Amendment And The Problem Of Social Cost, Thomas P. Crocker

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Divorcing Guns: How Family Law Could Change Parental Gun Ownership And Save Kids' Lives, Marcia A. Yablon-Zug

Faculty Publications

Guns are deadly. They are especially deadly for children yet, currently, parental gun ownership is not a major factor in custody disputes. This needs to change. Making irresponsible gun ownership a routine factor in custody cases could transform parental gun behavior. In other contexts, the potential loss of custody has proven to be an extremely strong deterrent. Moreover, unlike other proposed solutions to gun fatalities, this is a change that can be made right now. Making guns a part of custody disputes does not require the enactment of new legislation or even a judicial determination. By simply raising the issue …

A Qualitative Report Of The Perceptions Of The Covid-19 Pandemic From Collegiate Student-Athletes, Dylan C. Rowe, Zachary K. Winkelmann, Shawn M. Arent, Michelle A. Arent, Alexa J. Chandler, Nancy A. Uriegas, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee

Faculty Publications

CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic led to an abrupt disruption in access to services and personnel for collegiate student-athletes in the spring and summer of 2020. We sought to identify the effects of this unprecedented change by examining the psychological well-being, changes to normal routines, and return-to-play considerations of current student-athletes in order to guide support for both current and future student-athletes who may face similar situations. METHODS: We utilized a phenomenological approach to interview a purposeful sample of eighteen collegiate student-athletes (7 males, 11 females; mean age = 20 years) from across the United States. The participants were interviewed using …

Parent Zero, Jessica Feinberg

Faculty Publications

When a child is born, the law makes a critical determination regarding who will be recognized as the child’s legal parent(s). This determination carries immense importance both for children and for individuals who are, or seek to be, identified as legal parents. Essential rights, protections, and obligations attach to a legally recognized parent-child relationship, and in the vast majority of cases an individual who is recognized at birth as a child’s legal parent will retain that status permanently. The determination of the child’s first legal parent historically has been a straightforward one, and this largely remains true today outside of …

Constitutional Authority, Common Resources, And The Climate, Anthony L. Moffa

Faculty Publications

This work sets out to re-examine and challenge the history of the property clause with an eye towards increased congressional reliance on it in the face of daunting threats to our natural environment. No one could seriously question the primary motivations of the Framers, but that does not foreclose the importance of searching for secondary motivations that deepen our understanding of arguably the Constitution’s most explicitly environmental provision. Eugene Gaetke’s work in the 1980’s and Peter Appel’s work twenty years later laid the groundwork for the argument here by pushing back on the originalist argument for a narrow interpretation of …

The Color Of Property And Auto Insurance: Time For Change, Jennifer B. Wriggins

Faculty Publications

Insurance company executives issued statements condemning racism and urging change throughout society and in the insurance industry after the huge Black Lives Matter demonstrations in summer 2020. The time therefore is ripe for examining insurance as it relates to race and racism, including history and current regulation. Two of the most important types of personal insurance are property and automobile. Part I begins with history, focusing on property insurance, auto insurance, race, and racism in urban areas around the mid-twentieth century. Private insurers deemed large areas of cities where African Americans lived to be “blighted” and refused to insure all …

Arctic Navigation And Climate Change: Projections From Science For The Law Of The Sea, Charles H. Norchi, Amanda H. Lynch

Faculty Publications

Above latitude 66°33’44” north of the Equator lies the Arctic Circle. The center of the Circle is water, mostly covered by ice. The smallest of the world’s five oceans, it has been paddled, sailed, and traversed over centu-ries—to access its abundant resources, to reach the magnetic north pole, to discover routes connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, to expand sci-entific knowledge, to live, to discover, and to conquer. Peoples indigenous to the Arctic have long thrived in the lands and near-shore environments that bound the ocean.

By the age of European exploration of the Arctic, the 1648 Peace of Westphalia …

Taking Care With Text: “The Laws” Of The Take Care Clause Do Not Include The Constitution, And There Is No Autonomous Presidential Power Of Constitutional Interpretation, George Mader

Faculty Publications

"Departmentalism" posits that each branch of the federal government has an independent power of constitutional interpretation-all branches share the power and need not defer to one another in the exercise of their interpretive powers. As regards the Executive Branch, the textual basis for this interpretive autonomy is that the Take Care Clause requires the President to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" and the Supremacy Clause includes the Constitution in "the supreme Law of the Land." Therefore, the President is to execute the Constitution as a law. Or so the common argument goes. The presidential oath to "execute …

Too Fast? Too Slow? A Novel Approach For Identifying Extreme Response Behavior In Online Surveys, Manasvi Kumar, Joseph S. Valacich, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, David Kim

Faculty Publications

Some participants of online surveys engage in extreme answering behavior while generating responses (i.e., they respond too fast or too slow) relative to population norms. Here, we demonstrate how participants’ navigation behaviors can be used to potentially identify such responses. We administered an online survey where students (who were earlier instructed to complete a task) report lenience scores towards non-appropriate behavior while completing the task. We draw on cognitive dissonance theory to posit that failure to follow instruction predicts lenience scores. We then created different datasets by excluding data from participants flagged by our metrics and generated predictive models. We …

Closed Loop Recycling Of Low Friction Polymers In Fused Granule Fabrication Additive Manufacturing Processes, Neil Thompson, Jason Weaver

Faculty Publications

Plastic waste is a critical worldwide problem that impacts additive manufacturing (AM). Extensive research has explored how plastic waste in AM can be reduced by recycling prints into new filament, with varying success. An alternative to filament-based extrusion is “fused granule fabrication” (FGF), which extrudes from pellets or granules. This method is often used for large area additive manufacturing (LAAM) of polymers. This paper expands upon the knowledge base from previous research on LAAM and examines the extent to which PETG can be recycled and reprinted through the same FGF tool without significant loss to its material properties. The metric …

Durability Of Vacuum Infusion Tooling Produced From Fused Granular Fabrication Additive Manufacturing, Nathan Northrup, Jason Weaver, Andy R. George

Faculty Publications

Large area additive manufacturing (LAAM) has the capability to create tooling that is lower cost than conventionally manufactured tooling and still has sufficient properties for many applications. A vacuum infusion mold was printed from fiberglass-ABS and evaluated for wear and suitability for small vacuum infusion runs. The mold was designed to accentuate high wear as a “worst case” scenario. The mold was able to produce 10 parts successfully before any noticeable change occurred to the surface finish. By 14 parts, the surface finish had roughened sufficiently that demolding was difficult and resulted in damage to the part. Profilometry measurements showed …

Factors Related To Species Richness, Endemism, And Conservation Status Of The Herpetofauna (Amphibia And Reptilia) Of Mexican States, Geoffrey R. Smith, Julio A. Lemos-Espinal

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.