Digital Commons Network^™

Computational Model Predicts Function Of Rho-Gtpase Binding For Plexin Receptor Gap Activity On Rap1b Via Dynamic Allosteric Changes, Nisha Bhattarai

Faculty Scholarship

Plexin-semaphorin signaling regulates key processes such as cell migration, neuronal development, angiogenesis, and immune responses. Plexins stand out because they can directly bind with both Rho- and Ras-family small GTPases through their intracellular domains when these GTPases are in their active, GTP-bound states. This binding occurs via intracellular regions, which include a Rho-GTPase binding domain and a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) segment. Studies have shown that Rho and Ras GTPases play vital roles in plexin signaling and activation. However, the structural dynamics of plexins and GTPases and how these conformational changes affect interactions when plexin is bound with both Ras and …

Management Of Severe Gingival Recession Using A Double Papilla Connective Tissue Graft: A 2-Year Follow-Up Case Study, Dimitris N. Tatakis

Faculty Scholarship

Gum recession is a common condition where the gum tissue pulls away from the teeth, exposing the roots and making them more prone to damage. This report describes the treatment of a 30-year-old woman who had severe gum recession on her lower left canine tooth, caused by her long-term habit of scratching the gums with her fingernail. To restore the lost tissue and protect the tooth, a double papilla flap (a surgical technique that moves nearby tissue) along with a connective tissue graft (transplanted tissue from the roof of the mouth) was used. Over 2 years, the recession was reduced …

The Structure Of The Drp1 Lattice On Membrane, Kristy Rochon, Anelise N. Hutson, Jason A. Mears

Faculty Scholarship

Mitochondrial health relies on the membrane fission mediated by dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1). Previous structural studies of Drp1 on remodeled membranes were hampered by heterogeneity, leaving a critical gap in the understanding of the mitochondrial fission mechanisms. Here we present a cryo-electron microscopy structure of full-length human Drp1 decorated on membrane tubules. Using the reconstruction of average subtracted tubular regions (RASTR) technique, we report that Drp1 forms a locally ordered lattice along the tubule without global helical symmetry. The filaments in the lattice are similar to dynamin rungs with conserved stalk interactions. Adjacent filaments are connected by GTPase domain interactions …

Role Of Autonomic Dysfunction In Initiating Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation In A Canine Sterile Pericarditis Model, Seungyup Lee, Don W. Wallick, Celeen Khrestian, Dragan Juzbasich, Daniel Laurita

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Autonomic dysfunction plays a significant role in initiating postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) by causing atrial ectopic triggers, potentially through mechanisms such as increased sympathetic activity and altered vagal tone. These atrial ectopic triggers can easily induce POAF, especially in the presence of vulnerable substrates such as pericardial inflammation or structural remodeling. Objective: To test the hypothesis that autonomic dysfunction causes atrial ectopic triggers or POAF in the canine sterile pericarditis model. Methods: Ten sterile pericarditis dogs were studied on postoperative Days 2−3. Autonomic dysfunction was induced by stellate ganglion nerve stimulation (SNS, 5–15 mA; 4–10 Hz; pulse width 0.5–5 …

Opinion: The Constitution - Not Trump - Demands Our Allegiance, Christian G. Fritz

Faculty Scholarship

Supporting the Constitution not only requires submission to constitutional authority but implies resistance to powers that are exercised unconstitutionally. Such resistance might take the form of brave individuals living up to their oath of office or courts defending the rule of law and the Constitution. But while the Supreme Court plays a key role in interpreting the Constitution and holding a president in check, it has long been recognized that others besides the court have always been necessary to help monitor America’s constitutional order. The practice of resisting unconstitutional acts of the federal government by sounding the alarm was described …

Multi-Omic Spatially Resolved Analysis Of The Neuroinflammatory Response To Intracortical Microelectrode Arrays, E. Ricky Chan, Jeffrey R. Capadona

Faculty Scholarship

Intracortical microelectrode arrays (MEAs) are devices implanted into the brain's cortex with the ability to record or stimulate neuronal activity. Unfortunately, MEAs tend to fail over chronic time points, limiting their clinical utility. Chronic failure has largely been attributed to the brain's neuroinflammatory response. Until recently, most of what was understood about the neuroinflammatory response to MEAs was learned through immunohistochemical analysis of small numbers of proteins. More recently, gene expression studies have sequenced thousands of mRNA molecules that contribute to neuroinflammation, but few studies have performed large-scale proteomic analyses. To expand the knowledge of molecular mechanisms involved, we have …

Art, Play, And Neuroplasticity: Advancing Dementia Care Through Art-Enriched Environments, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Dementia represents a global public health crisis, characterized not only by progressive memory loss but by a pervasive decline in cognitive flexibility, social functioning, and overall quality of life. Traditional therapeutic modalities, often limited to pharmacological management and cognitive training, have yielded only modest gains in symptom mitigation and patient well-being. Recent advances in neuroscience have illuminated the brain‘s capacity for neuroplasticity—its inherent ability to adapt, reorganize, and form new neural connections even in advanced age and the presence of neurodegenerative conditions. This emerging understanding invites a critical re-evaluation of dementia care strategies, highlighting the potential of non-pharmacological interventions to …

Harnessing Redox-Active Molecules In Alkylammonium Halide-Based Eutectic Solvents For Redox Flow Batteries, Zeru Syum, Jesse Wainright, Desiree Mae Prado, Burcu Gurkan, Palani Sabhapathy, Clemens Burda, Matthew Vasil, Robert Savinell

Faculty Scholarship

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising for large-scale energy storage, however, advancements in performance and cost-effectiveness are critical factors for adoption. Here we report on alkylammonium halide based eutectic solvents (ESs) and found that a ESs comprising of diethylammonium chloride or bromide, in ethylene glycol demonstrated exceptional stability and a wide electrochemical stability window, making it a promising candidate for RFB applications. The electrochemical stability and redox behavior of the alkylammonium halide-based ESs are significantly influenced by hydrogen-bonding interactions, modulated by the alkyl chain length of the cation and the nature of the anion. A redox-active eutectic electrolyte containing 0.45 …

Evaluation Of Gold Helical Microwire Structure Electrode For Long-Term Rodent Nerve Stimulation, Danny V. Lam, Kevin Yang

Faculty Scholarship

Objective. The development of electrodes for chronic peripheral nerve stimulation faces several challenges, including complex compositions, intricate manufacturing processes, and high costs associated with the availability and fabrication of suitable materials. These limitations hinder the accessibility and feasibility of producing effective devices for chronic preclinical studies. This study evaluated the feasibility of a simple-to-manufacture gold helical microwire structure electrode (Au-HMSE) for peripheral nerve stimulation, electromyography (EMG) recording, and preliminary tissue response on the rat sciatic nerve. Approach. Manufactured electrodes were used for up to 8 weeks in rats for nerve stimulation and EMG recordings, with electrode-tissue impedances and motor thresholds …

Looking For The Public In Public Law, Nikhil Menezes, David E. Pozen

Faculty Scholarship

The “public” is everywhere and nowhere in contemporary public law. Everywhere, in that the term is constantly invoked to justify and explain existing arrangements. Nowhere, in that serious attempts to identify a relevant public and elicit its input are few and far between. Scholars and officials depict the U.S. public as playing myriad roles in governance — checking, guiding, approving, repudiating—without offering an account of how public preferences are formed or how they exercise influence on questions of interest.

This Article seeks to identify and call attention to the foundational dilemmas underlying this disconnect, to clarify their normative contours and …

Addressing Missingness In Serialized Bureaucratic Data: The Case Of Chinese Courts, Xiaohan Wu, Margaret Roberts, Rachel E. Stern, Benjamin L. Liebman, Amarnath Gupta, Luke Sanford

Faculty Scholarship

Courts around the world are putting their data online, making information about caseloads, parties, and decisions available to the public. Yet, this data is far from complete, and often only reflects a portion of courts’ dockets. We offer and validate a set of tools for leveraging serialized bureaucratic data from courts to estimate the proportion of cases available to the public and the time courts take to make decisions. Using data from more than 3,000 courts in China, our methods allow us to assess patterns of missingness in court data across provinces and cities by type of case and to …

Beyond Issuers: The Future Of Private Securities Litigation, Joshua Mitts

Faculty Scholarship

Private securities litigation has traditionally been viewed as a subfield of corporate governance, reducing agency costs by disciplining wayward management. In this brief Symposium essay, I argue that the future of private securities litigation lies beyond issuers. I discuss how a fraud claim under Rule 10b-5 can be understood as a kind of economic tort, and set out, in broad strokes, an economic analysis of claims against non-issuer defendants. I then consider emerging trends in the case law against non-issuers in social media and market manipulation cases. I conclude by identifying some challenges and opportunities for securities litigation in a …

Litigating National Security In The Wto Era, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

From one dispute between 1948 and 1994, there have now been 14 requests for a panel establishment (based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), Article XXI – the exception for national security) during the World Trade Organization (WTO) era (1995–now). The majority of them ended up in the issuance of a panel report, all of which were issued after 5 April 2019. As the WTO Appellate Body has been dysfunctional as of November 2019, no appellate report has been issued. Appeals have been lodged, but as there is no Appellate Body to entertain them, they were lodged …

Presidential Supremacy Over Administrative Agencies, Gary Gensler, Lev Menand

Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, the public has long benefited from the role played by administrative agencies with a degree of autonomy from the White House, each agency with distinct duties and authorities to implement the law as set out by Congress.

In its first hundred days, the second Trump administration has moved rapidly to centralise control over all administrative agencies, including so-called independent agencies, which have long operated at a greater remove from the White House than ‘executive’ agencies like the Department of State and the Department of Commerce. The administration is asserting an interpretation of the Constitution known as …

The Past, Present, And Future Of Proxy Voting Choice, Dorothy S. Lund

Faculty Scholarship

This article provides an early attempt at understanding what voluntary pass-through voting could mean for the marketplace. I first provide an overview of my argument in my 2018 Journal of Corporation Law article and the events that followed. I then survey passthrough voting initiatives that have taken hold at three asset managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. I then conclude with some preliminary observations about how voting choice is likely to affect the proxy voting landscape and outline open questions.

Virtual Reality In Undergraduate And Postgraduate Nursing Education: A Scoping Review Protocol Integrating Data Mining For Topic Discovery, Celeste Alfes

Faculty Scholarship

Virtual Reality (VR) encompasses a range of computer-based technologies that simulate complex scenarios, offering immersive, experiential learning in a controlled virtual environment. In nurs- ing education, VR has the potential to enhance both technical and non-technical competencies. However, the existing literature on VR in nursing education is fragmented, making it challenging to fully grasp its scope, applications, and emerging trends. This scoping review protocol outlines a systematic approach to mapping the existing literature on the use of VR in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education. Following Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines and the PRISMA- ScR 2020 framework, the review will include studies …

A Toda Bracket Convergence Theorem For Multiplicative Spectral Sequences, Eva Belmont

Faculty Scholarship

Moss’ theorem, which relates Massey products in the -page of the classical Adams spectral sequence to Toda brackets of homotopy groups, is one of the main tools for calculating Adams differentials. Working in an arbitrary symmetric monoidal stable simplicial model category, we prove a general version of Moss’ theorem which applies to spectral sequences that arise from filtrations compatible with the monoidal structure. This involves the study of Massey products and Toda brackets in a non-strictly associative context. The theorem has broad applications, e.g., to the computation of the motivic slice spectral sequence and other colocalization towers.

How Domestic Institutions Shape The Global Tech War, Anu Bradford, Eileen Li, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

The United States (U.S.), China, and the European Union (EU) are engaged in a national security-driven economic competition over advanced technology. Many scholars and commentators focus on the external dimension of this geopolitical contest; that is, they describe the strategic choices by each actor in terms of geopolitical realities, threat perceptions, and relative power. However, this Article brings to the fore the internal dimension of the global tech war. We argue that each player’s strategy in the tech war is a function of its internal features, including basic constitutional powers, domestic legal institutions, and the relationships between the government and …

(De)Funding Family Separations, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

Federal foster care funding exists in tension with foundational family law principles. The law protects family integrity: the state may only separate parents and children in extreme cases, and, when it does, the state must work to reunify families. Yet the federal funding system directs billions of federal dollars to support CPS agencies and pay subsidies to foster parents, adoptive parents, and guardians. It does so via an open-ended entitlement, so that the more families a state separates, the more federal funds it receives. This system makes it relatively cheaper for CPS agencies to take custody of children, incentivizes states …

Tort Law Heterodoxy In China, Benjamin L. Liebman, Rachel E. Stern, Eva Wenwa Gao, Xiaohan Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Chinese courts routinely ask defendants to pay damages without evidence of negligence while relying on concepts such as fairness, substantive justice, or discretion. This chapter examines how Chinese courts arrive at decisions that feel fair or just in cases where they refer to those ideas. Analysis of a dataset of 10,000 judicial decisions in personal injury cases suggests that Chinese courts refer to these concepts when they impose liability on two types of parties: (1) participants in a shared activity and (2) those who control a physical space. By assigning legal responsibility in these cases, Chinese courts acknowledge traumatic harm, …

Competition In The Global Law Market: Offshore Development Of The Statutory "Rule In Hastings-Bass", Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the competitive dynamics in the global law market through the lens of the statutory evolution of the Rule in Hastings-Bass across various International Financial Centers (IFCs). Following the UK Supreme Court's 2013 decision in Pitt v Holt and Futter v Futter, which significantly restricted the judiciary's ability to void trustee decisions under the Rule, seven IFCs (Jersey, Bermuda, The Bahamas, the Dubai International Financial Center, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands) enacted statutes to preserve and clarify the Rule within their jurisdictions. These legislative actions highlight the strategic adaptations by IFCs to enhance their legal …

Curative Identity Formation Themes To Counteract Law School’S Hidden Curriculum, Aric K. Short

Faculty Scholarship

Especially given the sensitive and malleable life stage that many of our students are in, law schools should take meaningful steps to blunt and counteract the negative effects of the hidden curriculum, including in ways suggested in other articles in this symposium. One direct way to present countervailing messaging is through a required 1L course on professional identity formation (PIF). As described in this article, there are a number of benefits of explicitly addressing PIF topics early in law school, and doing so not only more effectively prepares our students to become practicing attorneys, it also responds directly to some …

Sails Symposium Launch On International Law Scholarship: What We Write, Where We Publish, And Why It Matters, Kathleen Claussen, Melissa J. Durkee, Rebecca Ingber, Steven Arrigg Koh

Faculty Scholarship

Despite the centrality of international law scholarship in international law, little work has been done to understand the contours and forces at work in what international law scholars write, where they publish that work, who reads international law scholarship, and scholarship's relationship to the policy world. For international lawyers, identifying answers to these questions and appreciating the impact of our collective work is essential, particularly at a moment of profound political struggle in communities around the world. We have remarkably few data as to what topics, methodologies, and perspectives of international law scholarship journals and publishers print, by whom, in …

The Financial Sector And Global Dollar System, Gary Gensler, Lev Menand, Joshua Younger

Faculty Scholarship

The second Trump administration’s approach to financial markets and institutions mixes familiar deregulatory policies with a range of other policies (financial and non-financial) that are largely without precedent and may lead to significant structural change in the long term. Combined, these policies have the potential to affect the financial sector in at least four ways. First, they could threaten the foundations of the global dollar system – mutual cooperation, trust, and interdependency, both between the producers and consumers of financial instruments and among the nations that constitute the dollar bloc. Second, they may undermine financial stability by loosening prudential standards, …

Scaffolded Integration: Aligning Ai Literacy With Authentic Assessment Through A Revised Taxonomy In Education, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The accelerating prevalence of generative artificial intelligence in educational and professional spheres necessitates a reevaluation of when and how such technologies are introduced within pedagogical practice. The principal challenge for educators is not merely the imperative to prepare students for an AI-driven world, but rather to ensure that assessment practices remain authentic—providing an accurate measure of what students can independently achieve before leveraging the augmentation potential of intelligent systems. This article contends that the incremental introduction of AI, mapped onto a scaffolded framework aligned with a revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, constitutes a methodologically sound approach for maintaining academic integrity, fostering transferable …

Digital Resurrection Of Thonis-Heracleion: Technological Advances In Underwater Archaeology And A Speculative Ai-Driven Reconstruction Methodology, James Hutson, Passent Chahine

Faculty Scholarship

This article synthesizes past archaeological research on the submerged Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion, critically reviewing excavations and technological interventions deployed since its rediscovery by Franck Goddio and the IEASM team. Situated approximately 10 meters beneath Aboukir Bay near Alexandria, the city represents a significant nexus of Greek and Egyptian cultural heritage, vividly documented in classical sources such as Herodotus and Strabo. Prior excavations have recovered temple complexes, colossal statues, ritual artifacts, and an extensive array of ancient shipwrecks, mapping only a fraction of the extensive site. These investigations utilized pioneering geophysical methods, including multibeam sonar, side-scan sonar, and photogrammetry, establishing …

Water Flowing Down Wall Street, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Water scarcity is a perennial problem with dire consequences for the United States and governments around the world. A lack of adequate water resources is a systematic cause of environmental harm, economic damage, and societal division. Climate change has exacerbated these problems making water even more valuable and essential.

Financial actors have turned water into the new oil. These large financial actors profiteer from buying and selling water without any interest in its actual use as an input of production. Instead, they typically seek to hold these rights until dire situations, like droughts and fires, cause temporary, but large, spikes …

Nato Self-Defense – Is Article 5 The Right Framework For Responding To Sub-Kinetic Cyber Aggression?, Shreyas Kumar, Gary D. Brown, Srividhya Ragavan, Maddalena Cerrato, Gourav Nagar

Faculty Scholarship

Cyber aggression presents a significant challenge to traditional frameworks of collective defense, particularly under Article 5 of the NATO Washington Treaty, which obligates member states to respond collectively to an "armed attack." While NATO has acknowledged that cyber incidents may trigger Article 5, ambiguity persists over what constitutes a cyber "armed attack," especially in the absence of kinetic effects. This uncertainty complicates NATO’s ability to address increasingly prevalent sub-kinetic cyber threats, such as economic disruption, data manipulation, and interference in democratic processes. Unlike conventional military threats, cyber operations often fall below the traditional threshold of armed conflict while still exerting …

Burst Pressure Performance Of Multilayer Co-Extruded Polystyrene/Poly (Methyl Methacrylate) Pipes, Negar Shaghaghi, Erik Steinmetz, João Maia

Faculty Scholarship

This study investigates advancements in multilayer co-extrusion of annular structures, focusing on the mechanical properties of a 129-layer polystyrene (PS)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) pipe with 50% PS as a skin layer for proof-of-concept validation. We explore the impact of angular rotation on burst pressure, layer structure, and failure mechanisms, emphasizing the potential of this technique for enhanced mechanical performance through biaxial orientation and the elimination of weld lines. Utilizing high aspect ratio (HAR) multipliers and angular rotation, our findings demonstrate improved layer structure and burst pressure performance at higher velocity ratios, which is the ratio of the linear component of angular …

Strongly Confined Bi2se3 Quantum Dots Via Pulsed Laser Ablation In Liquids, Gregory Guisbiers, Rajendra Subedi, Burningham Burningham, Francisco Francisco Ruiz-Zepeda, Qiaohui Zhou, Xin Lu

Faculty Scholarship

Bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) is a binary compound displaying a strong spin−orbit coupling, resulting in a narrow bulk bandgap material with a gapless metallic surface. By shrinking the size of Bi2Se3 within the strong confinement regime, its optoelectronic properties changed drastically. To achieve this goal, strongly confined Bi2Se3 quantum dots (QDs) were produced by pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL). The laser used for the synthesis was a nanosecond Nd/YAG laser emitting at 1064 nm and pulsing at ∼13 mJ/pulse. The irradiation of the bulk target was performed at 1 kHz in acetone and lasted 5 min. Finally, the Bi2Se3 QDs …