Digital Commons Network^™

Individuality And The Collective In Ai Agents: Explorations Of Shared Consciousness And Digital Homunculi In The Metaverse For Cultural Heritage, James Hutson, Jay Ratican

Faculty Scholarship

The confluence of extended reality (XR) technologies, including augmented and virtual reality, with large language models (LLM) marks a significant advancement in the field of digital humanities, opening uncharted avenues for the representation of cultural heritage within the burgeoning metaverse. This paper undertakes an examination of the potentialities and intricacies of such a convergence, focusing particularly on the creation of digital homunculi or changelings. These virtual beings, remarkable for their sentience and individuality, are also part of a collective consciousness, a notion explored through a thematic comparison in science fiction with the Borg and the Changelings in the Star Trek …

Digitizing The Cultural Capital: Harnessing Digital Humanities For Heritage Preservation In Bujumbura, Burundi, James Hutson, Pace Ellsworth, Matt Ellsworth, Jean Bosco Ntungirimana

Faculty Scholarship

In an era where the erosion of cultural heritage is increasingly prevalent, there exists a critical imperative to explore and implement innovative methods for the preservation and revitalization of cultural identities, as exemplified by the urgent situation in Bujumbura, Burundi. Central to this study is the exploration of innovative digital methodologies for archiving a wide spectrum of cultural artifacts, including both notable and everyday heritage elements, in Bujumbura. Traditional approaches to biographical and historical profiling have predominantly focused on official records and significant events, often neglecting the richness of personal experiences and everyday interactions that substantially shape cultural identities. To …

Reclaiming Regulatory Intermediation For The Public, Daniel E. Walters

Faculty Scholarship

Managerial governance is often operationalized through outsourcing the regulatory function from public institutions—for example, administrative agencies—to private organizations. In virtually any sector, it is possible to identify private “regulatory intermediaries” that step between public agencies and regulated parties to perform tasks traditionally played by government actors—for example, the development of regulatory standards, auditing, compliance assurance, enforcement, and more. Although this reliance on private regulatory intermediaries may in some cases be highly advantageous to government institutions since it may sometimes allow government agencies to do more regulatory work than their own resources and capacity might allow—it comes at significant costs of …

Crypto In Real Estate Finance, R. Wilson Freyermuth, Christopher K. Odinet, Andrea Tosato

Faculty Scholarship

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have ushered in a digital gold rush. But all that glitters is not gold. The latest fad is the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to purchase and finance real estate. Typically, crypto real estate transactions begin with the transfer of title for a residential property into a dedicated business entity, such as a limited liability company. Thereafter, an NFT is ‘minted’ and used to represent the ownership interest in that entity. The real property is then marketed online specifying that, to acquire it, one simply purchases the relevant NFT via a blockchain transfer. Crucially, buyers are expected …

How Discriminatory Censorship Laws Imperil Public Education, Jonathan Feingold, Joshua Weishart

Faculty Scholarship

“Discriminatory censorship laws” regulate classroom conversations about racism, gender identity, and other topics targeted in the backlash against efforts toward inclusive classrooms and curricula. This policy brief examines the proliferation of these laws and their impact on K-12 schools, including the creation of hostile learning environments that expose students and educators to a heightened threat of race- and sex-based harassment and to formal sanctions and social ostracization. The laws also foster a climate of fear and anxiety among educators, effectively coercing them to shun critical inquiry and thought on targeted topics and more generally. The result is a curriculum that …

Roberts's Revisions: A Narratological Reading Of The Affirmative Action Cases, Angela Onwuachi-Willig

Faculty Scholarship

In a seminal article published nearly twenty years ago in the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities, Professor Peter Brooks posed a critical yet underexplored question: "Does the [flaw [n]eed a [n]arratology?"⁵ In essence, he asked whether law as a field should have a framework for deconstructing and understanding how and why a legal opinion, including the events that the opinion is centered on, has been crafted and presented in a particular way.⁶ After highlighting that "how a story is told can make a difference in legal outcomes," Brooks encouraged legal actors to "talk narrative talk" …

Virtual Reality At Workplace For Autistic Employees: Preliminary Results Of Physiological-Based Well-Being Experience, M. A. Reyes-Consuelo, D. Michaud, J. Proulx-Guimond, Jocelyne Kiss, C. Vincent, G. Edwards, James Hutson, J. Ruel, S. Letscher, V. Psyche, C. Papi, M. Caouette, I Feillou, Piper Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Emotional health problems in the workplace often hinder the integration and retention of autistic employees (AE), a challenge identified in many sectors. Recent literature highlights the consequences of these problems, such as burnout leading to reduced productivity and resignation. Previous research supports the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) for training a variety of specific skills (e.g. riding a bus or plane travel), as well as more complex social skills, such as emotion recognition and functional communication. In addition, existing studies on using physiological self-monitoring in AE training offer a promising approach to promoting improved emotional health. The present paper reports …

Thirty-Day Mortality Rates Among Young Adult Stroke Patients And Their Characteristics At Kiruddu And Mulago Hospitals In Uganda: A Prospective Observational Cohort Study, Shirley Moore, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Stroke outcomes among young adults in Uganda are unclear. This study therefore determined the clinical characteristics and 30-day outcome among young adults with an acute stroke. In a prospective observational cohort study, 61 young adults with confirmed stroke were followed up for 30 days. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were collected using a study questionnaire. Kaplan–Meier curves, and modified Poisson regression were performed for factors associated with the 30-day mortality outcome. A third of the screened stroke survivors, (61/195) were young adults aged between 18 and 50 years. About two-thirds were male. More than half were diagnosed with ischaemic strokes while …

Ai And The Creative Process: Part Three, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Article discussing the effects of artificial intelligence on the creative process in the art world.

Ai And The Creative Process: Part Two, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Article discussing the effects of artificial intelligence on the creative process in the art world.

Ai And The Creative Process: Part One, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Article discussing the effects of artificial intelligence on the creative process in the art world.

Phase Shift Between Joint Rotation And Actuation Reflects Dominant Forces And Predicts Muscle Activation Patterns, R. D. Quinn, Hillel J. Chiel

Faculty Scholarship

During behavior, the work done by actuators on the body can be resisted by the body's inertia, elastic forces, gravity, or viscosity. The dominant forces that resist actuation have major consequences on the control of that behavior. In the literature, features and actuation of locomotion, for example, have been successfully predicted by nondimensional numbers (e.g. Froude number and Reynolds number) that generally express the ratio between two of these forces (gravitational, inertial, elastic, and viscous). However, animals of different sizes or motions at different speeds may not share the same dominant forces within a behavior, making ratios of just two …

Synthesizing Sentience: Integrating Large Language Models And Autonomous Agents For Emulating Human Cognitive Complexity, Jay Ratican, James Hutson, Daniel Plate

Faculty Scholarship

The paper aims to present a novel methodology for emulating the intricacies of human cognitive complexity by ingeniously integrating large language models with autonomous agents. Grounded in the theoretical framework of the modular mind theory-originally espoused by Fodor and later refined by scholars such as Joanna Bryson—the study seeks to venture into the untapped potential of large language models and autonomous agents in mirroring human cognition. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence, exemplified by the inception of autonomous agents like Age in GPT, auto GPT, and baby AGI, underscore the transformative capacities of these technologies in diverse applications. Moreover, empirical studies …

Suicidal Ideation And Death By Suicide As A Result Of The Covid-19 Pandemic In Spanish-Speaking Countries: Systematic Review, Nicolás Valle-Palomino, Mirtha Mercedes Fernández-Mantilla, Danae De Talledo-Sebedón, Olinda Victoria Guzmán-González, Vanessa Haydee Carguachinchay-Huanca, Alfonso Alejandro Sosa-Lizama, Brunella Orlandini-Valle, Óscar Manuel Vela-Miranda

Faculty Scholarship

Suicidal behaviors and constructs are putting at risk the accomplishment of Objective 3 of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development in Spanish-speaking countries. The current study’s principal objective is to explain the presence of suicidal ideation and deaths by suicide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spanish-speaking countries based on a review of the scientific literature. The PRISMA model was used as the main method while considering the criteria of periodicity, language, typology, and country in order to choose the 28 articles that were analyzed from the following three databases: SCOPUS, Web of Science, and ProQuest Coronavirus Research Database. …

Neurodiversity & Placemaking In Exhibition Design, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

of the place of art and culture in society, museums claim to have something for everyone. But, in reality, contemporary exhibition design is for a small percentage of the neurotypical population. Many visitors, especially the 10 to 15 percent of the global population who are neurodiverse, find contemporary exhibitions discomforting – from how subjects and themes are displayed, to the lack of inclusive design in environments. To ensure the exhibition-development process results in an experience that is safe, comfortable, and relevant for a neurodiverse audience, specific placemaking considerations need to be deliberately incorporated.

One Tort, Four Iracs, And Five Lessons About Rule Support Cases, Alissa Bauer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Ally Can Connect Tort Theory To International And Comparative Law, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Enterprise, Liability, And Insolvency: An Essay In Honor Of Aaron Twerski, Edward Janger

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Hydra: Lessons From The World's Largest Darknet Market, Priyanka Goonetilleke, Alex Knorre, Artem Kuriksha

Faculty Scholarship

Research Summary

We present a comprehensive description of Hydra, the largest darknet marketplace in the world until its shutdown in April 2022. We document the main features of Hydra such as dead-drop delivery, feedback and reputation system, escrow, and dispute resolution. Using data scraped from the platform, we quantitatively examine the scale and the structure of the marketplace. We find that it has been highly competitive, geographically covering at least 69% of the Russian population and trading a wide variety of drugs, while also allowing the wholesale trade of drugs and precursors. The dead-drop delivery system used on Hydra was …

Bending The Rules Of Evidence, Edward K. Cheng, G. Alexander Nunn, Julia Simon-Kerr

Faculty Scholarship

The evidence rules have well-established, standard textual meanings—meanings that evidence professors teach their law students every year. Yet, despite the rules’ clarity, courts misapply them across a wide array of cases: Judges allow past acts to bypass the propensity prohibition, squeeze hearsay into facially inapplicable exceptions, and poke holes in supposedly ironclad privileges. And that’s just the beginning.

The evidence literature sees these misapplications as mistakes by inept trial judges. This Article takes a very different view. These “mistakes” are often not mistakes at all, but rather instances in which courts are intentionally bending the rules of evidence. Codified evidentiary …

Silencing Litigation Through Bankruptcy, Pamela Foohey, Christopher K. Odinet

Faculty Scholarship

Bankruptcy is being used as a tool for silencing survivors and their families. When faced with claims from multiple plaintiffs related to the same wrongful conduct that can financially or operationally crush the defendant over the long term—a phenomenon we identify as onslaught litigation—defendants harness bankruptcy’s reorganization process to draw together those who allege harm and pressure them into a swift, universal settlement. In doing so, they use the bankruptcy system to deprive survivors of their voice and the public of the truth. This Article identifies this phenomenon and argues that it is time to rein in this destructive use …

Firearm Contagion: A New Look At History, Rachel Martin, Michael R. Ulrich

Faculty Scholarship

Gun violence is widely considered a serious public health problem in the United States, but less understood is what this means, if anything, for evolving Second Amendment doctrine. In New York Pistol & Rifle Association, Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court held that laws infringing Second Amendment rights can only be sustained if the government can point to sufficient historical analogues. Yet, what qualifies as sufficiently similar, a suitable number of jurisdictions, or the most important historical eras all remain unclear. Under Bruen, lower courts across the country have struck down gun laws at an alarming pace, while …

Beyong Brackeen: Active Efforts Towards Antiracist Child Welfare Policy, Andrea Martin

Faculty Scholarship

Due to structural racism, legal protections afforded to families of children in the foster care system have been significantly eroded and continue to be challenged. The latest attempt to dismantle child welfare protections for a historically marginalized group was a prolonged attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act. Motivated in part by the racist belief that they are unfairly disadvantaged in adopting American Indian children, American Indian adversaries reached the pinnacle of their incessant attack on the law’s constitutionality and its heightened requirements. Fortunately, in Haaland v. Brackeen, the United States Supreme Court upheld the law’s important protections for …

A Crazy Quilt: Infanticide In The United States, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter builds on previous research to present a sampling of cases in the US, primarily in the twenty-first century, in order to show the harshness and disparity in criminal charges, defences and sentences. The broad term ‘infanticide’ is used for child-murder cases, and the more specific term ‘neonaticide’ is used for the killing of a child in the first 24 hours after birth. This chapter also describes the more recent use of genetic genealogy to solve cold cases of neonaticide. It concludes by considering how the absence of an infanticide offence and expanded defences results in an incoherent, unjust …

The Ever-Shifting Ground Of Pretrial Detention Reform, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

In the past six decades, pretrial detention systems have undergone waves of reform. Despite these efforts, pretrial jail populations across the country continue to swell. The causes of such growth in jail populations are difficult to pinpoint, but some are more readily apparent: Fear over rising crime rates, judicial reluctance to release accused persons, and monetary burdens associated with release have all contributed to increased detention pretrial across criminal legal systems in the United States. This article examines various pretrial detention reform efforts and highlights the need for greater research in the area.

Originalism After Dobbs, Bruen, And Kennedy: The Role Of History And Tradition, Randy E. Barnett, Lawrence B. Solum

Faculty Scholarship

In three recent cases, the constitutional concepts of history and tradition have played important roles in the reasoning of the Supreme Court. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization relied on history and tradition to overrule Roe v. Wade. New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen articulated a history and tradition test for the validity of laws regulating the right to bear arms recognized by the Second Amendment. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District looked to history and tradition in formulating the test for the consistency of state action with the Establishment Clause.

These cases raise important questions about …

The Evolution Of Sodomy Decriminalization Jurisprudence In Transnational And Comparative Constitutional Perspective, Ayodeji Kamau Perrin

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I demonstrate that legal mobilization by activist litigants combined with a comparative methodological jurisprudence has been central to the “transnational legal process” of the generation and diffusion of the sodomy decriminalization norm since the 1950s. My analysis of the transnational comparative jurisprudence relies on a comprehensive legal survey of seven decades of decriminalization jurisprudence (1954–2022), primarily using successful cases. Although the scholarship on the well-known Dudgeon, Toonen, and NCGLE cases often asserts the influence that these cases had on subsequent domestic court constitutional jurisprudence, I suggest that it is the domestic privacy jurisprudence of lobbyists, …

Toward A Liberal Common Good Constitutionalism For Polarized Times, Linda C. Mcclain, James E. Fleming

Faculty Scholarship

In Common Good Constitutionalism, Adrian Vermeule urges his fellow conservatives to change the way they think about the American Constitution. Instead of maintaining a constitutionalism that emphasizes aggregating popular preferences, limiting government, and securing individual rights, he promotes a constitutionalism that emphasizes the common good and cultivates the attitudes and competences requisite to its pursuit. For the common good constitutionalist, a government is established primarily to do good things for people. It envisions an active government, including a strong president, a strong administrative state, and judges exercising reasoned judgment about which results would contribute to the general welfare, correctly understood, …

(Re)Criminalizing Abortion: Returning To The Political With Stories, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Abortion stories have always played a powerful role in advancing women’s rights. In the abortion sphere particularly, the personal is political. Following the Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, abortion politics, and abortion storytelling, take on an even deeper political role in challenging the bloodless judicial language of Dobbs with the lived experience of women.

Using Multiple Lenses To See An Invisible Group, Kathleen J. Farkas, Jaroslaw Richard Romaniuk

Faculty Scholarship

Social work in Poland and in the United States shares the values of human dignity and self-determination, but there are often value conflicts in terms of how various groups experience social roles and social expectations. This paper explores the use of multiple lenses to understand the past and current conditions for LGBT+ people in Poland. An international, university-level collaboration uses a framework of “invisible groups” to highlight the needs of those who are on the margins of society and whose human and individual rights are suppressed. The article reviews the results of a recently published on-line survey of LGBT+ populations …