Digital Commons Network^™

Psychosocial Burden And Suicidality In Epilepsy: A Public Health Concern, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

The increased risk for psychosocial burden and suicidality in people with epilepsy compared to the general population is a well-established global public health concern. Suicidality risk is also increased in patients with functional seizures. The timely identification of patients at highest risk for psychosocial burden and self-harm is vital. This can pose a significant challenge for multidisciplinary clinicians caring for people with epilepsy. Early identification of social stressors and comorbid psychiatric contributors via screening are required to assist with the development of predictive models for self-harm in epilepsy; and subsequent options for treatment and the provision of adjunct supports in …

Human-Ai Collaboration In Writing: A Multidimensional Framework For Creative And Intellectual Authorship, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The integration of AI technologies into the writing process has significantly altered traditional notions of authorship, creativity, and intellectual labor. Historically, writing was seen as a human-driven cognitive and creative exercise, but with the rise of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude, the line between human and AI contributions has become increasingly ambiguous. This paper addresses the limitations of the current sliding scale model, which views AI involvement as ranging from “none” to “complete”. In its place, we propose a new multidimensional framework that more accurately reflects the complexity of human-AI collaboration in writing. The model includes axes …

Development Of A Self-Management Tool For Individuals With Seizure Clusters: Trial Design And Methodological Report, Molly Mcvoy, Eytan Hirsch, Luisa Londono, Kari Colón-Zimmermann, Jin Seok Cho, Evelyn K. Shih, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Despite advances in anti-seizure medications (ASMs) for people with epilepsy (PWE), adverse outcomes, negative health events (NHEs), and breakthrough seizures remain common. Rescue medication (RM) can better manage repetitive seizures, but barriers to RM use persist. Self-management for PWE and a history of NHEs (SMART) is an evidence-based epilepsy self-management program aimed at reducing barriers and maximizing facilitators to self-care in high-risk PWE. Methods: This 2-phase, ongoing clinical trial adapts SMART to integrate RM support for PWE with repetitive seizures. Phase 1, now completed, used input from an advisory board (AB) of PWE, caregivers, and clinicians to adapt the …

Prevalence Of Social Determinants Of Health Risk Factors Among And Their Impact On Viral Suppression, Consistent Visits, And No-Show Rates Among Persons With Hiv Who Identify As Hispanic, Mary Cowden, Ana Clavijo, Pragnya Iyengar, Ann Avery

Faculty Scholarship

The current study examines the association between language preference, social determinants of health (SDOH) risk factors, viral load, and HIV care outcomes among individuals of Hispanic ethnicity in the United States. More than half (54%) of all participants reported having two or more unmet needs. Hispanic individuals were more likely to be at risk in 2 or more domains than their non-Hispanic counterparts. Food insecurity was the most common risk factor reported and when present, 51% of patients also reported financial resource strain. Surprisingly, when language preference was analyzed, English-preferring Hispanic patients were at higher risk of financial resource strain, …

Postnatal Progressive Craniosynostosis: An Unusual Case Presentation Leading To Cascade Diagnosis For Multiple Generations, Jessica T. Ogawa, Maura Guyler, Krystal L. Tomei, Howard D. Wang

Faculty Scholarship

NM_000141.5: FGFR2 c.1032G>A is a pathogenic variant that causes Crouzon syndrome through activation of a new donor splice site. This clinical report highlights the intrafamilial variability that can exist with this specific variant. The proband is a 4-year-old boy who initially presented with concern for seizures. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed pancraniosynostosis and Chiari 1 malformation. Papilledema on fundoscopic exam and copper beaten appearance of the skull on imaging both suggested the presence of elevated intracranial pressure. Genetic testing identified c.1032G>A (p.Ala344=) in FGFR2. Familial testing and genetic evaluation confirmed the same pathogenic variant in the …

Performing Protest, Performing Memory: Speech Act Theory And January 6, Mary Lynne Gasaway Hill

Faculty Scholarship

In daily life, memory performs a staggering array of tasks. It offers reassurance, validation, legitimation, and approval. It transgresses boundaries and polices them. It confirms understandings and undermines them. It warms our hearts and chills our blood. In the realm of protest, as this article will show, memory works through intentional language use. In the context of activism, acts of memory are often performative: they aim not just to restate the status quo, but to change something about it. This chapter operationalises J.L. Austin’s Speech Act Theory (1994, SAT) as a lens through which to examine how the contentious discourse …

Aging Is Associated With Decreased Lactobacillus And Increased Cervicovaginal Inflammation In Canadian Women, Ha T. Dang, Laura Noel-Romas, Samantha Knodel, Kenzie Birse, Hossaena Ayele, Alicia R. Berard, Adam D. Burgener, Christina Farr Zuend

Faculty Scholarship

Problem: Aging is characterized by a general dysregulation of systemic immune responses that increases susceptibility to infections and malignancies. Immune cells in the female genital tract (FGT) are regulated by sex hormones, but little is known about the impact of aging and menopause on immunology in the FGT. Method of Study: This study conducted an age-focused sub-analysis of cervicovaginal samples collected from 47 women enrolled in the Vaginal Mucosal Systems study in Winnipeg, Canada. Paired cervicovaginal lavage and cervical cytobrush were collected and analyzed by Luminex cytokine array, mass spectrometry based metaproteomics, metabolomics, and high dimensional flow cytometry. Results: The …

Super-Resolution Imaging Reveals Resistance To Mass Transfer In Functionalized Stationary Phases, Ricardo Monge Neria, Muhammad Zeeshan, Aman Kapoor, Tae Kyong John Kim, Nichole Hoven, Jeffrey Pigott, Burcu Gurkan, Christine Duval, Lydia Kisley

Faculty Scholarship

Chemical separations are costly in terms of energy, time, and money. Separation methods are optimized with inefficient trial-and-error approaches that lack insight into the molecular dynamics that lead to the success or failure of a separation and, hence, ways to improve the process. We perform super-resolution imaging of fluorescent analytes in five different commercial liquid chromatography materials. Unexpectedly, we observe that chemical functionalization can block more than 50% of the material’s porous interior, rendering it inaccessible to small-molecule analytes. Only in situ imaging unveils the inaccessibility when compared to the industry-accepted ex situ characterization methods. Selectively removing some of the …

Super-Resolution Imaging Reveals Resistance To Mass Transfer In Functionalized Stationary Phases, Ricardo Monge Neria, Muhammad Zeeshan, Aman Kapoor, Tae Kyong John Kim, Nichole Hoven, Jeffrey S. Pigott, Burcu Gurkan, Christine E. Duval, Lydia Kisley

Faculty Scholarship

Chemical separations are costly in terms of energy, time, and money. Separation methods are optimized with inefficient trial-and-error approaches that lack insight into the molecular dynamics that lead to the success or failure of a separation and, hence, ways to improve the process. We perform super-resolution imaging of fluorescent analytes in five different commercial liquid chromatography materials. Unexpectedly, we observe that chemical functionalization can block more than 50% of the material’s porous interior, rendering it inaccessible to small-molecule analytes. Only in situ imaging unveils the inaccessibility when compared to the industry-accepted ex situ characterization methods. Selectively removing some of the …

Towards More Sustainable Oceans: A Review Of The Pressing Challenges Posed By Marine Plastic Litter, Peter Yang

Faculty Scholarship

Marine littering is a global challenge and a significant threat to a sustainable planet, requiring comprehensive and effective mechanisms to address it in a comprehensive manner. This study reports on a bibliometric analysis that has identified the extent to which the topic has been explored in the international literature, by focusing on geographical scope, the emphasis on (micro)plastic litter and on policy measures. Additionally, as a complement to the assessment of the recent literature on marine plastic litter, this study reviews some case studies, identifying some trends on how to cope with this problem. The findings underscore the imperative for …

Novel Biomarkers Of Fetal And Neonatal Environmental Exposure, Effect And Susceptibility, Cynthia F. Bearer

Faculty Scholarship

Abstract: Rapid advancements in science and technology have allowed medical providers to treat wider ranges of diseases with safer and more effective therapies than ever before. One of the areas of health that has been consistently understudied, however, is one that affects us all: environmental health or the effects that the chemicals we are exposed to every day have on our acute and chronic health. This effect can be exacerbated during and shortly after pregnancy, as an individual exposure is often shared by both the mother and the fetus/neonate. The diagnosis and monitoring of chemical exposure can be quite challenging, …

A Review Of Optical Flow Velocimetry In Fluid Mechanics, Gauresh Raj Jassal, Bryan E. Schmidt

Faculty Scholarship

Optical flow methods have been developed over the past two decades for application to particle image velocimetry (PIV) images with the goal of acquiring higher resolution measurements of the velocity field than conventional cross-correlation (CC)-based techniques. Numerous optical flow velocimetry (OFV) algorithms have been devised to solve the ill-posed optical flow problem, with various physics-inspired strategies to tailor them to fluid flows. While OFV can be applied to continuous scalar fields, it has demonstrated the most success on images of tracer particles, i.e. traditional planar PIV images. Compared to state-of-the-art CC algorithms, OFV methods have demonstrated an order of magnitude …

Exploring The Connection Between Rna Splicing And Intellectual Disability, Anthony Caputo, Ashleigh E. Schaffer

Faculty Scholarship

Intellectual disability (ID) is a broad diagnostic category that encompasses individuals with impaired cognitive ability. While these disorders have heterogeneous causes, recent developments in next-generation sequencing (NGS) are revealing the prevalence of genetic etiologies. In particular, germline mutations in genes that affect RNA splicing are increasingly common causes of ID disorders. Research to elucidate the functional relationship between splicing and neurodevelopment is critical since molecular therapeutics require a nuanced understanding of the pathological mechanism. In this review, we first summarize the trends that have led to the discovery of the RNA splicing–ID relationship, then discuss recent progress and future directions …

Applicable And Generalizable Machine Learning For Intelligent Welding In Automotive Manufacturing, Peng Edward Wang, Xijia Zhao

Faculty Scholarship

This review paper examines the application and challenges of machine learning (ML) in intelligent welding processes within the automotive industry, focusing on resistance spot welding (RSW) and laser welding. RSW is predominant in body-in-white assembly, while laser welding is critical for electric vehicle battery packs due to its precision and compatibility with dissimilar materials. The paper categorizes ML applications into three key areas: sensing, in-process decision-making, and post-process optimization. It reviews supervised learning models for defect detection and weld quality prediction, unsupervised learning for feature extraction and data clustering, and emerging generalizable ML approaches like transfer learning and federated learning …

Can Chatgpt Implement Finite Element Models For Geotechnical Engineering Applications?, Hyoung Suk Suh

Faculty Scholarship

This study assesses the capability of ChatGPT to generate finite element code for geotechnical engineering applications from a set of prompts. We tested three different initial boundary value problems using a hydro-mechanically coupled formulation for unsaturated soils, including the dissipation of excess pore water pressure through fluid mass diffusion in one-dimensional space, time-dependent differential settlement of a strip footing, and gravity-driven seepage. For each case, initial prompting involved providing ChatGPT with necessary information for finite element implementation, such as balance and constitutive equations, problem geometry, initial and boundary conditions, material properties, and spatiotemporal discretization and solution strategies. Any errors and …

Screening And Treatment Of Iron Deficiency Among Heart Failure Patients With Impaired Ejection Fraction: The Impact Of A Pharmacist-Led Protocol, Firas Al Badarin, Feras Bader, Bassam Atallah

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Despite guideline-recommended routine screening and iron deficiency (ID) treatment among heart failure (HF) patients, these practices are often underutilized. Currently, limited data are available on the outcomes of pharmacists' programs to enhance ID screening and management. Accordingly, we sought to describe the frequency and yield of screening for ID and intravenous (IV) iron replacement rates among our cohort of HF patients and examined the impact of implementing a pharmacist-led protocol (PLP) aimed at enhancing these rates. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study involving HF patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <45% at a quaternary care hospital in the Middle East/Gulf region. The PLP was introduced in August 2022. Data on demographics, comorbidities, echocardiographic parameters, laboratory findings (including ID screening and its findings), and rates of treatment with IV iron replacement were analyzed and compared between the pre-implementation group (n = 432, October 2015–February 2020) and the post-implementation group (n = 154, August 2022–January 2023). Results: Before the PLP, 63.2% (n = 273) of eligible patients underwent ID screening, with 80.6% (n = 220) found to have ID. Following the implementation of the PLP, screening rates significantly increased to 86.4% (n = 133) (p = 0.03), with 53.4% (n = 71) diagnosed with ID. The rate of IV iron replacement in ID patients improved from 30.4% (n = 67) in the pre-PLP group to 73% (n = 52) in the post-PLP group (p < 0.001). Multivariable logistic regression identified baseline glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and hemoglobin levels as significant predictors of IV iron replacement in the pre-PLP cohort. Conclusions: Implementing a pharmacist-led protocol was significantly associated with enhancing the screening and treatment of ID in patients with HF and LVEF <45%. This study demonstrates the crucial role of pharmacists in optimizing guideline-directed therapies, which can be replicated in various healthcare settings.

The Other Secret Deals: Uncovering The Power Of Non-Binding International Agreements, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

In recent decades, the use of traditional international treaties has declined as states increasingly rely on deformalized agreements - non binding arrangements - such as interinstitutional agreements and memoranda of understanding. These agreements allow governments to bypass the complexities of formal treaty-making while addressing shared challenges. This Article, based on four years of research and previously undisclosed agreements, examines a twenty-year database of non-binding agreements between the United States and Mexico. Through this case study, the Article demonstrates how deformalized agreements drive much of the cross-border collaboration, offering a flexible mechanism for government agencies to shape state behavior, coordinate policies, …

We Need To Talk: Modernizing Attorney-Client Jail Communications, Cynthia Alkon

Faculty Scholarship

Attorney-client jail phone calls, video calls, and emails are all routinely recorded and monitored by jails, with numerous examples of jails and private telecommunications providers giving those recordings and emails to law enforcement and prosecutors. This widespread failure to protect the confidentiality of attorney-client communications prevents lawyers from being able to enjoy easy, quick, and regular communications with their clients. In practice, and despite the ever-expanding communication methods in the outside world, those held in jails in this country while their criminal cases are pending are effectively stuck in the nineteenth century when the only way to communicate was in …

Water Reallocation In The West: Government And Markets, Vanessa Casado Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Water is multifaceted: it is a human right, a production input, a sacred element, an investment asset, public property, and a fugitive resource. Its reallocation is inherently difficult because of its natural characteristics and its hybrid nature that combines public ownership with private rights. The future of the U.S. West necessitates the reallocation of water resources, even with potential new water supplies. As climate change intensifies, reallocation will take various forms—all involving government intervention to some degree, from eminent domain to competitive markets. For water markets to function effectively, they require robust institutional infrastructure to prevent issues like imperfect information …

The Common Law Of Constitutional Conventions, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Jill Lepore’s Jorde Symposium lecture paints a rich portrait of state constitutional conventions as engines of democratization during the 1800s and issues a dire warning about the United States’ ongoing amendment drought. Citing their unfamiliarity, however, Lepore declines to consider federal constitutional conventions as a possible corrective. In this response Essay, I argue: first, that Lepore’s marginalization of Article V’s convention mechanism is in tension with her own historical and normative account; second, that while Lepore’s wariness of conventions is entirely understandable given the state of our politics — and entirely commonplace among progressives — it carries significant risks …

Managing The Trade-Climate Policy Interface Through Open Plurilateral Agreements: Learning From The Eu Deforestation Regulation Experience, Bernard M. Hoekman, Charles F. Sabel

Faculty Scholarship

Trade policies motivated by security or commercial interests are increasingly complemented by trade measures that seek to induce foreign producers to green their production processes. A prominent example is the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Such unilateral measures are unlikely to be efficient, and at the limit may simply be ineffective. In this paper we use the EUDR experience to make the case for countries seeking to use trade policies to negotiate jointly defined approaches to achieve nontrade goals. We consider the scope for doing so in the framework of trade agreements and through stand-alone, issue-specific open plurilateral agreements (OPAs). We …

Completing Icwa’S History, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

When the Supreme Court, in Brackeen v. Haaland, upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — federal legislation making it harder for child family regulation (a.k.a. child protection) agencies to separate Indigenous children from their parents — it centered Congress’s effort to remedy a long history of unwarranted separations of Indigenous families.

Custom’S Pervasive Role In Law And The Boundaries Of Positivism, James Paul George

Faculty Scholarship

Custom is law’s foundation, modulator, and occasional antithesis. This Article explores that relationship, starting with varying insights from some of the few legal philosophers who have examined the custom/law dynamic. The heart of this Article provides examples showing custom’s many influences on the law, set in five functional areas: origin, application, interstitial, rule-source, and oppositional. Although the custom/law interplay spans human behavior, these examples come from law practice where custom is exposed. Many are routine, some are significant, and all show our reliance on behaviors and norms that are not positive law. The conclusion addresses but does not resolve some …

Law For The Rich, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

With top incomes and wealth reaching historic highs, scholars and politicians have proposed new taxes and novel legal rules aimed at reversing the emergence of the new Gilded Age. Yet while new taxes target the rich directly by imposing greater burdens only on those with incomes or wealth above multi-million-dollar thresholds, none of the proposed legal reforms do anything of the sort. There appears to be no interest in changing property law, corporate law, antitrust law, or labor law, among others, to have special, more burdensome rules applicable only to the rich. This Article asks: Why not? Why shy away …

Sovereignty, Sins, And The Reassertion Of Primary Taxing Rights By The United States, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

In this report, Graetz argues that the United States must reassert its primary taxing rights over income long conceded to other countries, especially income from intellectual property created in the United States, and he explains some changes necessary to make that happen.

'Reciprocal' Tariffs: What's In A Word, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

On 13 February 2025, President Trump released a memorandum announcing his intention to impose “reciprocal tariffs” under the Fair and Reciprocal Plan (FRP). The plan does not operate under a reasonable definition of reciprocity, is illegal under World Trade Organisation (WTO) law, would damage both the United States and its trading partners and could trigger reactions that would bring an end to the international trading system as we know it.

When Anti-Fraud Laws Become A Barrier To Computer Science Research, Madelyne Xiao, Andrew Sellars, Sarah Scheffler

Faculty Scholarship

Computer science research sometimes brushes with the law, from red-team exercises that probe the boundaries of authentication mechanisms, to AI research processing copyrighted material, to platform research measuring the behavior of algorithms and users. U.S.-based computer security research is no stranger to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in a relationship that is still evolving through case law, research practices, changing policies, and legislation

Amid the landscape computer scientists, lawyers, and policymakers have learned to navigate, anti-fraud laws are a surprisingly under-examined challenge for computer science research. Fraud brings separate issues that …

Decriminalization Matters: Lgbtq Transnational Litigation Networks And Movement Lawyering In The Global South, Ayodeji Kamau Perrin

Faculty Scholarship

In the last decade, a distinct sociolegal phenomenon has been sweeping across the Global South—the judicial decriminalization of same-sex sexual conduct. On the other hand, progress on LGBTQ rights has occurred in parallel to transnational countermobilization and backlash against LGBTQ rights. Yet, neither the phenomenon of judicial decriminalization nor the countermobilization and backlash to decriminalization has attracted the attention that these phenomena deserve from doctrinal legal scholars, comparative and international law scholars, or legal mobilization scholars.

In this paper, I help to remedy this oversight by making three contributions to legal mobilization scholarship and to international law and relations scholarship. …

Antitrust & The Immoral Energy Economy, Kristen Van De Biezendos

Faculty Scholarship

The age of climate change is upon us, but regulations and programs intended to decarbonize the electricity sector have been effectively stymied by utilities defending their monopoly power. The lack of robust antitrust enforcement against the utilities to date is a result of the belief that regulation is sufficient to police monopoly anticompetitive activity, that the natural monopoly structure of utilities makes them a poor fit for antitrust principles, and that the utilities are immune from Sherman Act claims under the state action exemption. But both rationales reflect a misunderstanding of the purpose of public utility law and its preference …

Hierarchical Analysis Of Us Electric Vehicle Subsidies For Carbon Emission Mitigation, Boman Su, Kang Shen, Chris Yuan

Faculty Scholarship

Electric vehicle (EV) adoptions are promoted with subsidies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ground transportation. In this paper, a hierarchical analysis is presented on the potential of greenhouse gas emission mitigation via the electric vehicle subsidy policy at state level in the US, through research of environmental and economic fundamentals of electric vehicle operations, energy consumptions, battery degradation and service life. It has been found that restructuring the federal subsidies to promote EV adoption can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the US. The reduction costs of greenhouse gas emissions vary between $1167.44/ton in Vermont to $6880.13/ton in Wyoming. …