Digital Commons Network^™

Self-Assessment Tool (Sat) For Improving How Higher Education Institutions And Stem Units Address Sexual Harassment By Faculty And Administrators, Susan Saab Fortney, Theresa Morris

Faculty Scholarship

Based on their systematic review of studies related to sexual harassment and higher education, researchers describe sexual harassment as an epidemic in higher education that constitutes one of the major challenges to an inclusive work and study environment. Persons involved in addressing sexual harassment recognize the extremely high institutional and individual costs associated with dealing with sexual harassment. Rather than reacting to sexual harassment that occurs, this Self-Assessment Tool assists institutions in examining and improving how they prevent and address sexual harassment.

The tool focuses on issues related to sexual harassment by faculty, administrators, and persons in supervisory positions, including …

Shared Cinematic Experience And Emerging Technologies: Integrating Mixed-Reality Components For The Future Of Cinema, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The enduring appeal of traditional cinema viewing in the face of alternative experiences, including streaming services and emerging technologies, such as extended reality, is rooted in its esthetic, cultural, and social significance. While the psychological appeal of shared cinematic experiences has gained attention in scholarship, there is a need to further explore the potential enhancement of these experiences through the integration of immersive technologies. The communal nature of cinema fosters social connection, especially in a post-pandemic context marked by widespread social isolation. This study highlights the psychological benefits of shared cinematic experiences and emphasizes the next phase of cinematic evolution, …

Comments On Preliminary Draft 9, Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Jane C. Ginsburg, Peter S. Menell

Faculty Scholarship

We are writing to offer our views on Preliminary Draft No. 9 (“PD9”) and express our deep and persistent concern about the direction and methodology that the Project continues to take, which we have sought to address and remedy at multiple points over the last several years. The elements of PD9 that we describe below are, in our view, particularly striking illustrations of the problems that we have previously identified. The gravity and salience of PD9’s problems are borne out in the comments of Judge Pierre Leval, who describes elements of the draft as requiring “a substantial editing and rewriting.” …

Perceptions And Barriers To Adopting Artificial Intelligence In K-12 Education: A Survey Of Educators In Fifty States, Karen Woodruff, James Hutson, Kathryn Arnone

Faculty Scholarship

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making significant strides in the field of education, offering new opportunities for personalized learning and access to education for a more diverse population. Despite this potential, the adoption of AI in K-12 education is limited, and educators’ express hesitancy towards its integration due to perceived technological barriers and misconceptions. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of K-12 educators in all 50 states of the USA towards AI, policies, training, and resources related to technology and AI, their comfort with technology, willingness to adopt new technologies for classroom instruction, and needs assessment for …

Additional Comments On Preliminary Draft 9, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

I am adding to the comments submitted by Profs. Balganesh, Menell and myself a list of points in PD9 that I believe require correction or clarification. These comments do not include Chapters 8, 10 or 11.

To Democratize Algorithms, Ngozi Okidegbe

Faculty Scholarship

Jurisdictions increasingly employ algorithms in public sector decisionmaking. Facing public outcry about the use of such technologies, jurisdictions have begun to increase democratic participation in the processes by which algorithms are procured, constructed, implemented, used, and overseen. But what problem is the current approach to democratization meant to solve? Policymakers have tended to view the problem as the absence of public deliberation: agencies and courts often use algorithms without public knowledge or input. To redress this problem, jurisdictions have turned to deliberative approaches designed to foster transparency and public debate.

This Article contends that the current approach to democratization is …

The Unfulfilled Promise Of Self-Determination In Court-Connected Mediation, Peter Reilly

Faculty Scholarship

In the context of mediation, party self-determination refers to the ability of disputants to have power, control, and autonomy in the process. There are numerous process design questions involved in running a mediation, no matter its subject matter. Consider just one example: “Should the mediation be conducted in-person, or virtually?” The answer to this question can have a profound impact on the direction and course of a mediation, including its outcome. Yet, in the context of court-connected mediation, disputing parties are not consistently provided the opportunity to give input on how such process design questions are resolved. In fact, these …

Brief For Petitioner, Muldrow V. City Of St. Louis, Missouri, Madeline H. Meth, Brian Wolfman

Faculty Scholarship

Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee because of her race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Its core antidiscrimination provision, Section 703(a)(1), protects individuals not only from discriminatory hiring, firing, or compensation but also from discrimination with respect to their “terms, conditions, or privileges” of employment. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e2(a)(1). Petitioner Jatonya Clayborn Muldrow maintains that her employer, the City of St. Louis Police Department, discriminated against her in the terms, conditions, or privileges of her employment when, because of her sex, it transferred her out of the Department’s Intelligence Division to an entirely different job, …

Scalable Production Of Peptides For Enhanced Struvite Formation Via Expression On The Surface Of Genetically Engineered Microbes, Jacob D. Hostert, Quincy A. Spitzer, Paola Giammattei, Julie N. Renner

Faculty Scholarship

A promising method for recycling phosphate from wastewater is through precipitation of struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O), a slow-release fertilizer. Peptides have been shown to increase the yield of struvite formation, but producing peptides via solid phase synthesis is cost prohibitive. This work investigates the effects of peptide-expressing bacteria on struvite precipitation to provide a sustainable and cost-efficient means to enhance struvite precipitation. A peptide known for increased struvite yield was expressed on a membrane protein in Escherichia coli(E. coli), and then 5 mL precipitation reactions were performed in 50 mL culture tubes for at least 15 min. The yield of struvite crystals …

Thieno[3,4-D]Pyrimidin-4(3h)-Thione: An Effective, Oxygenation Independent, Heavy-Atom-Free Photosensitizer For Cancer Cells, Luis A. Ortiz-Rodríguez, Sean J. Hoehn, Heather J. Folkwein, Liraz Levi, Carlos E. Crespo-Hernández

Faculty Scholarship

All-organic, heavy-atom-free photosensitizers based on thionation of nucleobases are receiving increased attention because they are easy to make, noncytotoxic, work both in the presence and absence of molecular oxygen, and can be readily incorporated into DNA and RNA. In this contribution, the DNA and RNA fluorescent probe, thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(1H)-one, has been thionated to develop thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-thione, which is nonfluorescent and absorbs near-visible radiation with about 60% higher efficiency. Steady-state absorption and emission spectra are combined with transient absorption spectroscopy and CASPT2 calculations to delineate the electronic relaxation mechanisms of both pyrimidine derivatives in aqueous and acetonitrile solutions. It is demonstrated that thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(3H)-thione …

Living Apart After Adoption Or Guardianship: Perspectives Of Adoptive Parents And Guardians, Nancy Rolock, Amy E. Korsch-Williams, Chelsea Flanigan

Faculty Scholarship

Background: For children who are not reunified with their biological family members, the child welfare system promotes legal permanence through adoption or guardianship. The intent of adoption and guardianship is a safe home where children develop familial relationships that last a lifetime. However, issues may arise that result in children or youth living apart (LA) from their families after adoption or guardianship. In this study, LA is defined as a youth living outside the home after adoption or guardianship for two weeks or longer because the youth was receiving treatment in a residential or hospital setting, in a juvenile justice …

Bullying Victimization And Perpetration: Some Answers And More Questions, Dexter R. Voisin, David B. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S. government has defined bullying victimization as “any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated”.1 Conceptualizations of bullying and the use of the term vary by audience and context. For instance, for some, bullying behaviors might include acts of aggression or violence, whereas for others bullying might center on name-calling, exclusionary social practices or even spreading rumors and vicious lies.2

Book Review Of The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables For A Planet In Crisis By Amitav Ghosh, Cynthia Twyford Fowler

Faculty Scholarship

Amitav Ghosh, a celebrated author of fiction and nonfiction, earned a doctorate in social anthropology from Oxford. In this iteration of his nonfiction oeuvre, Ghosh’s mapping of the historical entanglement of human rights abuses and environmental exploitation is framed upon the pillars of postcolonialism and posthumanism. Many of the processes he writes about in his acclaimed book The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis overlap with the interests of Human Ecology readers. Chapters 4 “Terraforming,” 5 “We Shall be Gone Shortly,” and 6 “Bonds of Earth” may feel familiar to students of environmental histories and aficionados of Alfred …

Federal Environmental Justice Legislation And Regulations, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Faculty In Durable Skills Development In Higher Education, James Hutson, Mark Valenzuela, Shannon Wright, Elizabeth Melick

Faculty Scholarship

Although Emsi and other market researchers have found that employers desire durable skills (formerly known as “soft skills”) in new hires, there have been few studies dedicated to identifying how faculty perceptions of skill development differ in degree and by area, and how that might impact how such skills are embedded in classroom instruction. This study proposes to investigate the perceptions of faculty from different academic backgrounds and how their disciplines and experiences may contribute to their perceived role in curricular, cocurricular or extracurricular offerings that support durable skill development. Results from the study demonstrate the differing perspectives and expectations …

Negotiation Theories Engage Hybrid Warfare, Nancy Welsh, Sharon Press, Andrea Kupfer Schneider

Faculty Scholarship

The concept of hybrid warfare has arisen recently to describe the efforts, short of outright war, used by nations to disrupt and destabilize each other. This Article reviews available negotiation theories, concepts and skills to determine whether they can help governmental actors and business organizations targeted by hybrid warfare respond effectively. In other words, can negotiation theories, concepts and skills be used to engage effectively in “hybrid conflict management”? The Article urges that international diplomacy and multiparty negotiation theories and skills, as well as the more recent scholarship that has developed regarding hostage negotiation and “wicked problems,” are likely to …

A Theory Of Interests In The Context Of Hybrid Warfare: It's Complex, Cynthia Alkon, Sanda Kaufman

Faculty Scholarship

We will begin with a discussion about how the hybrid warfare context is different from other conflict contexts. We will describe some complexity aspects that make hybrid warfare challenging to negotiators. We will then discuss whether classical negotiation theory prescriptions apply to a hybrid warfare context, especially regarding interests. We will argue that these prescriptions related to classical negotiations are unlikely to work in this context. We will focus our analysis on a subset of hybrid warfare attacks, consisting of short-term, time-sensitive, high-risk crises, where negotiations are possible and necessary, such as ransom demands, rather than on hybrid warfare situations …

Confidentiality Clauses In Settlement Agreements After The Consumer Review Fairness Act, Wayne Barnes

Faculty Scholarship

Online commerce has skyrocketed in recent years, and shoppers are purchasing goods or services online in greater numbers every year. The COVID-19 pandemic has only hastened the trend. One significant aspect of online shopping is the presence of consumer reviews posted by prior purchasers of goods or services, describing their experience with the products, the services and/or the selling merchant. A vast majority of online shoppers say that they rely on these reviews to help inform their purchasing decisions. Positive reviews can be tremendously beneficial to a business’ profitability, whereas negative reviews can be equally detrimental. Users of the internet …

Neuroinclusive Workplaces And Biophilic Design: Strategies For Promoting Occupational Health And Sustainability In Smart Cities, James Hutson, Piper Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study aims to investigate the impact of biophilic design on occupational health and productivity, with a particular focus on addressing the needs of diverse populations, including the neurodiverse, during the post-pandemic return to work. With an estimated 15 – 20% of the global population considered neurodiverse, it is crucial to understand and accommodate their specific needs, such as those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum condition, and learning disabilities. These individuals face increased occupational stress, necessitating the development of targeted strategies. The renewed interest in sustainability and employee well-being has led to a resurgence of biophilic design in the …

Corporate Compliance's Achilles Heel, Miriam Baer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence For Early And Evolution Of Alzheimer’S Disease Detections And Enhancing Senior Mental Health Through Innovative Art-Singing Therapies: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Jocelyne Kiss, Geoffreyjen Edwards, Rachel Bouserhal, Elaine Champagne, Thierry Belleguic, Valéry Psyché, Charles Batcho, Carol Hudon, Sylsvie Ratté, Ingrid Verdruyckt, Marie-Hélène Parizeau, Aaron Liu-Rosenbaum, James Hudson, Marie-Louise Bourbeau, Marie Lemieux, Annik Charbonneau

Faculty Scholarship

The well-documented therapeutic potential of group singing for patients living with Alzheimer’s disease (PLAD) has been hindered by COVID-19 restrictions, exacerbating loneliness and cognitive decline among seniors in residential and long-term care centers (CHSLDs). Addressing this challenge, the multidisciplinary study aims to develop a patient-oriented virtual reality (XR) interaction system facilitating group singing for mental health support during confinement and enhancing the understanding of the links between Alzheimer’s disease, social interaction, and singing. The researchers also propose to establish an early AD detection system using voice, facial, and non-invasive biometric measurements and validate the efficacy of selected intervention practices. The …

National Telecommunications And Information Administration: Comments From Researchers At Boston University And The University Of Chicago, Ran Canetti, Aloni Cohen, Chris Conley, Mark Crovella, Stacey Dogan, Marco Gaboardi, Woodrow Hartzog, Rory Van Loo, Christopher Robertson, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

These comments were composed by an interdisciplinary group of legal, computer science, and data science faculty and researchers at Boston University and the University of Chicago. This group collaborates on research projects that grapple with the legal, policy, and ethical implications of the use of algorithms and digital innovation in general, and more specifically regarding the use of online platforms, machine learning algorithms for classification, prediction, and decision making, and generative AI. Specific areas of expertise include the functionality and impact of recommendation systems; the development of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) and their relationship to privacy and data security laws; …

Using The Hands To Learn About The Brain: Testing Action-Based Instruction In Brain Anatomy, Fey Parrill

Faculty Scholarship

Brain anatomy is typically taught using static images. We asked participants to use their own hands to represent the brain and perform gestures during learning. We measured learning via a pretest/postest design. We compared five video trainings in which participants heard similar audio and repeated terminology aloud. Conditions were: (1) Image: Participants saw images of a physical model of the brain. (2) Physical model: Participants saw hands pointing to the physical model. (3) Physical model + action: Participants performed actions on the physical model. (4) Hand model: Participants saw images of hands being used to represent the brain. (5) Hand …

Human-Ai Collaboration For Smart Education: Reframing Applied Learning To Support Metacognition, James Hutson, Daniel Plate

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter investigates the profound influence of intelligent virtual assistants (IVAs) on the educational domain, specifically in the realm of individualized learning and the instruction of writing abilities and content creation. IVAs, incorporating generative AI technologies such as ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, hold the potential to bring about a paradigm shift in educational programs, emphasizing the enhancement of advanced metacognitive capacities rather than the fundamentals of communication. The subsequent recommendations stress the need to cultivate enduring proficiencies and ascertain tailored learning approaches for each learner, which will be indispensable for success in the evolving job market. In this context, prompt …

Exploring The Educational Potential Of Ai Generative Art In 3d Design Fundamentals: A Case Study On Prompt Engineering And Creative Workflows, James Hutson, Bryan Robertson

Faculty Scholarship

AI will be increasingly integrated into artistic practices and creative workflows with prompt engineering assuming an increasingly important role in the process. With readilyavailable generative AI, such as Midjourney, DALL-E 2, and Craiyon (formerly DALLE-mini), anyone can seemingly create "art,” prompting questions about the future necessity of art and design education. However, whereas the ease with which content can be created has seen an outcry from the traditional artmaking community, fears over widespread adoption replacing the need for a firm foundation in art and design principles and fundamentals is unfounded. Instead, these tools should be seen and adopted as other …

Black And Blue Police Arbitration Reforms, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

The racial justice protests that engulfed the country after seeing a video of the appalling killing of a Black male, George Floyd, by a Minnesota police officer in 2020 has led to a tremendous number of questions about dealing with racial issues in policing. Similar concerns arose a little more than fifty years ago when police unions gained power to respond to the civil rights protests occurring during those times by establishing strong protections for their officers in light of brutality claims. This rhythmic progression of protests and union responses is destined to continue without any lasting reforms focused on …

Rethinking Education Theft Through The Lens Of Intellectual Property And Human Rights, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay problematizes the increased propertization and commodification of education and calls for a rethink of the emergent concept of “education theft” through the lens of intellectual property and human rights. This concept refers to the phenomenon where parents, or legal guardians, enroll children in schools outside their school districts by intentionally violating the residency requirements. The Essay begins by revisiting the debate on intellectual property rights as property rights. It discusses the ill fit between intellectual property law and the traditional property model, the impediments the law has posed to public access to education, and select reforms that have …

"They Don't Know What They Don't Know": A Study Of Diversion In Lieu Of Lawyer Discipline, Leslie C. Levin, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

Lawyer misconduct can have devastating consequences for clients. But what is the appropriate regulatory response when lawyers make less serious mistakes? For almost thirty years, jurisdictions have offered some lawyers diversion in lieu of discipline. Diversion is intended to help educate lawyers or treat those with impairments so that they do not reoffend. Yet remarkably little is known about how diversion operates, whether it is used appropriately, and how well it seems to work. This Article addresses these questions. It draws on the limited published data and on interviews with disciplinary regulators in twenty-nine jurisdictions about their use of diversion. …

Latinas In The Legal Academy: Progress And Promise, Raquel E. Aldana, Emile Loza De Siles, Solangel Maldonado, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

The 2022 Inaugural Graciela Oliva ́rez Latinas in the Legal Academy (“GO LILA”) Workshop convened seventy-four outstanding and powerful Latina law professors and professional legal educators (collectively, “Latinas in the legal academy,” or “LILAs”) to document and celebrate our individual and collective journeys and to grow stronger together. In this essay, we, four of the Latina law professors who helped to co-found the GO LILA Workshop, share what we learned about and from each other. We invite other LILAs to join our community and share their stories and journeys. We hope that the data and lessons that we share can …

Generative Ai Tools In Art Education: Exploring Prompt Engineering And Iterative Processes For Enhanced Creativity, James Hutson, Peter Cotroneo

Faculty Scholarship

The rapid development and adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the art and design education landscape have introduced both opportunities and challenges. This timely study addresses the need to effectively integrate these tools into the classroom while considering ethical implications and the importance of prompt engineering. By examining the iterative process of refining original ideas through multiple iterations, verbal expansion, and the use of OpenAI’s DALL E2 for generating diverse visual outcomes, researchers gain insights into the potential benefits and pitfalls of these tools in an educational context. Students in the digital at case study were taught prompt …