Digital Commons Network^™

Leaving Delaware? The Essential Role Of Specialized Corporate Courts, Zohar Goshen, Tomer S. Stein

Faculty Scholarship

Following the Delaware Court of Chancery’s invalidation of Elon Musk’s fifty-six- billion-dollar compensation package, Tesla moved its incorporation from Delaware to Texas. Shortly thereafter, Delaware’s legislature, seeking to protect Delaware’s dominant incorporation position, passed the most sweeping corporate law amendments in fifty years.

Both supporters of Musk and defenders of Delaware’s judiciary have accused each other of partisanship, but neither side has addressed the central question: What is the role of specialized corporate courts?

This Essay presents a novel theory of why such courts are necessary. Corporate disputes are distinct because they arise within ongoing relationships between shareholders and management, …

From Prohibition To Preparation: Reframing Academic Integrity In The Age Of Ai, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This study analyzes how U.S. universities reconfigure academic integrity during the 2024–2025 cycle in response to widespread generative AI adoption. The analysis foregrounds three loci: student ignorance and metacognitive blind spots; the expanded remit of Academic Integrity Officers prioritizing education over punishment; and deliberate AI-enabled misconduct that exposes the evidentiary limits of detection technologies. A mixed-methods design integrates a multi-site review at Arizona State University, Montclair State University, and Cornell University with synthesis of surveys, policies, and faculty development guidance. Findings show that detector outputs function as conversational prompts rather than adjudicative proof, necessitating dialogic resolution standards, process evidence, and …

Beyond Mass Deportation, Nancy Plankey-Videla, Huyen Pham, Angela D. Morrison, Luz E. Herrera

Faculty Scholarship

Donald Trump’s threats to carry out the mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants helped propel him to a second term as President of the United States. For the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. without lawful status, those threats have increased fears of forced returns to their countries of origin. While American immigration law is heavily focused on the legal processes leading to deportation, little attention has been paid to the post-deportation experiences of individuals who must reintegrate into their home countries. This gap in understanding is especially alarming given the high stakes of reintegration. A successful transition can empower …

Trips And Its Futures, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) was adopted on 15 April 1994, along with the estab-lishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO). With the WTO’s recent celebration of its thirtieth anniversary, it is high time we explore what the future will hold for this agreement. This chapter begins by revisiting the past to examine whether the TRIPS Agreement would be adopted if it were negotiated today. The chapter then discusses whether WTO members will undertake a major overhaul of this agreement in the future. Taking note of the fast-evolving international norm-setting environment and …

Assembly-Line Public Defense, David S. Abrams, Priyanka Goonetilleke

Faculty Scholarship

Each year, millions of Americans rely on public defenders to fulfill their Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Despite being the linchpin of the criminal justice system, public defense remains both underfunded and understudied. This Article provides empirical analysis to contribute to a critical question: How should public defender systems be structured?

Criminal justice advocates, scholars, and the American Bar Association strongly favor vertical representation in public defense. Under this model, a single public defender represents a defendant throughout their case, from their initial appearance through sentencing. The alternative approach—horizontal representation—operates like an assembly line: Different attorneys handle each stage of …

Data As Policy, Janet Freilich, W. Nicholson Price Ii

Faculty Scholarship

A large literature on regulation highlights the many different methods of policy-making: command-and-control rulemaking, informational disclosures, tort liability, taxes, and more. But the literature overlooks a powerful method to achieve policy objectives: data. The state can provide (or suppress) data as a regulatory tool to solve policy problems. For administrations with expansive views of government’s purpose, government-provided data can serve as infrastructure for innovation and push innovation in socially desirable directions; for administrations with deregulatory ambitions, suppressing or choosing not to collect data can reduce regulatory power or serve as a back-door mechanism to subvert statutory or common law rules. …

Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny, Kate Redburn

Faculty Scholarship

In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a state law that prohibits transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care. For the first time, the Court considered a fundamental question in civil rights law: How does the Fourteenth Amendment regard transgender people? The Court gave little guidance. It did not sort out principles for deciding when anti-transgender discrimination classifies by sex, nor whether transgender people are a suspect class. Instead, the Court held that “[i]n the medical context, the mere use of sex-based language does not sweep a statute within the reach of …

Trump’S Multi-Pronged Attack On Renewable Energy, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Federal policy on renewable energy took a 180-degree turn on the day of Donald Trump’s second inauguration. The Biden administration had rightly seen a massive expansion of clean energy, especially wind and solar and the associated storage and transmission, as key to moving away from fossil fuels and fighting climate change. But Mr. Trump denies that climate change is a serious problem and works to increase both the supply of and the demand for fossil fuels.

This article discusses the range of actions involved in the Trump administration’s attack on renewable energy.

Ai Companions And The Lessons Of Family Law, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Virtual friends and lovers powered by artificial intelligence are rapidly moving to the center of our emotional and social lives. Millions of people turn to AI companions every day for conversation, romance, sexual intimacy, therapy, and education. AI companionship holds promise, potentially reducing loneliness, supporting people without access to mental health treatment, helping students learn, and offering a judgment-free space for sensitive conversations. But AI companionship also raises significant concerns. The technology's addictiveness may exacerbate loneliness and can undermine human relationships. Therapy bots may prove more harmful than helpful. AI companions can be emotionally abusive. And their access to the …

A New View Of Formal Equality And A Case For Predistribution, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

A long-held egalitarian view is that formal equality — the absence of formal legal distinctions based on the material resources of individuals — is regressive. If legal rules are the same for the rich and the poor, the rich benefit and the poor suffer. This Essay argues that this view is mistaken. Far from being synonymous with laissez-faire, a commitment to formal equality provides a counterweight to the key neoliberal maxim that regulation of the market economy should focus on efficiency alone. Moreover, a new view of formal equality offered here reveals a key advantage of predistribution over redistribution: Explicit …

The Constitutional Fight Over The Nlra And The Nlrb: A 90 Year Reprise, Kate Andrias

Faculty Scholarship

This article traces renewed constitutional challenges to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), placing them in historical and doctrinal context. Contemporary attacks — advanced by major corporations and the Trump Administration — revive the constitutional conflicts of the 1930s. Drawing on arguments rooted in the unitary executive theory, as well as Article III and the Seventh Amendment, the current challenges threaten not only the NLRB’s independence but the broader administrative state and the system of labor rights it sustains. At stake is more than institutional design: the dispute reflects a deeper contest over …

Plan-B Activist Defense: Defending Animal-Rights Activists In Courtrooms Hostile To Political Argumentation, Hadar Aviram

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, several animal rights activists faced criminal charges for rescuing animals from factory farms. The standard legal approach in these cases has been relying on the necessity defense, which has a long history in cases of civil disobedience and ideologically driven crime. Animal law scholarship on this topic tends to focus on explaining why the defense applies to open rescue. However, as recent trials have demonstrated, actual courtrooms in rural counties tend to be hostile to the necessity defense, and judges can and do rely on Supreme Court precedent to keep it out of the courtroom.

This Article's …

Plain Language Summary Of Publication: Expert Consensus On The Early Use Of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics In People With Bipolar I Disorder, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Plain Language Summary: What is this summary about? This summary highlights key insights from expert psychiatrists on the early use of long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics for treating people with bipolar I disorder. What were the results? LAI antipsychotics are usually reserved as a ‘last resort’ treatment in people with bipolar I disorder, even though evidence supports their early use. Barriers to earlier use of LAIs include access issues and views that healthcare providers and people with bipolar I disorder have about this type of medication. If the treatment plan of people with bipolar I disorder includes antipsychotics, experts recommend using …

Local Group Galaxies From An External Perspective, Stacy S. Mcgaugh

Faculty Scholarship

I discuss Local Group galaxies from the perspective of external galaxies that define benchmark scaling relations. Making use of this information leads to a model for the Milky Way that includes bumps and wiggles due to spiral arms. This model reconciles the terminal velocities observed in the interstellar medium with the rotation curve derived from stars, correctly predicts the gradual decline of the outer rotation curve, and extrapolates well out to 50 kpc. Rotationally supported Local Group galaxies are in excellent agreement with the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation. Pressure supported dwarfs that are the most likely to be in dynamical equilibrium …

Addressing Implementation Challenges In The Delivery Of An Epilepsy Self-Management Program In Community Settings, Martha Sajatovic, Jessica Black, Clara Adeniyi, Sakshi Priya, Nicole Fiorelli, Lesley Armah

Faculty Scholarship

Aims: This report describes implementation of the SMART epilepsy self-management (ESM) program in a community setting. Methods: SMART was implemented by 3 epilepsy-focused social services agencies. Pre/Post outcomes included past 30-day seizure frequency, the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the 10-item Quality of Life in Epilepsy (QOLIE-10) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale. Results: There have been 8 nurses (mean age 63.6, SD 9.1) and 14 peer educators trained (mean age 44.3, SD 15.8, having epilepsy a mean of 18.2, SD 11.1 years). Mean number of SMART sessions attended (out of a maximum of 8) was 5.7, SD …

Enshrining Library And University Values Through The Creation Of A Policy Committee, Brian Sullivan, Rebecca B. French

Faculty Scholarship

As interprofessional organizations operating within the context of higher education, academic libraries find themselves pulled between competing forces with regards to both policies and values. Departmental, unit, library, division, university, and professional interests all hold sway over a library's decision-making and its implementation of policies and procedures, making balancing these tensions a complex endeavor. When faced with a backlog of needed policy revisions and a campus-wide review by the Provost's office that resulted in additional policy update requests, the authors formed a policy committee within their library's faculty governance body. This chapter details how we kept organizational values in mind …

Sparsity-Promoting Hierarchical Bayesian Model For Eit With A Blocky Target, D. Calvetti, E. Somersalo

Faculty Scholarship

The electrical impedance tomography (EIT) problem of estimating the unknown conductivity distribution inside a domain from boundary current or voltage measurements requires the solution of a nonlinear inverse problem. Sparsity promoting hierarchical Bayesian models have been shown to be very effective in the recovery of almost piecewise constant solutions in linear inverse problems. We demonstrate that by exploiting linear algebraic considerations it is possible to organize the calculation for the Bayesian solution of the nonlinear EIT inverse problem via finite element methods with sparsity promoting priors in a computationally efficient manner. The proposed approach uses the Iterative Alternating Sequential (IAS) …

Ai In Adipose Imaging: Revolutionizing Visceral Adipose Tissue, Ectopic Fat, And Cardiovascular Risk Assessment, Sneha R. Kandi, Sanjay Rajagopalan, Ian J. Neeland

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose of Review: This review explores the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and ectopic fat imaging. It aims to evaluate how AI may be used to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. It addresses key questions regarding AI’s capabilities in risk prediction, segmentation, and integration with large volume data for CVD risk assessment. Recent Findings: Recent studies demonstrate that AI, powered by deep learning models, significantly improve VAT and ectopic fat segmentation. AI can also be used to facilitate early detection of cardiometabolic risks and allows integration of imaging with …

The Use Of Long-Acting Injectables For People With Schizophrenia: Consensus Panel Recommendations For Overcoming Barriers And Implementing Treatment, Martha Sajatovic

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction: Antipsychotic medications are effective for people living with schizophrenia, but long-term treatment adherence remains challenging, leading to relapses and poor outcomes. Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) may improve adherence and reduce relapses compared with oral antipsychotics. Barriers to the use of LAIs exist, yet practical recommendations to overcome them are lacking. Therefore, an expert consensus panel was formed to develop key recommendations using a modified Delphi panel method. Methods: The panel chair and Interactive Forums, Inc., conducted a narrative literature review of English-language articles published in the 10 years before 02/02/2024. Panelists rated, discussed, and re-rated proposed statements during 2 …

The Role Of Employee Relationship Orientation In The Value Co-Creation – Firm Performance Link, Perry L. Parke, Prachi Gala, Pramod Iyer, Stefan Sleep, Mona Sinha

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose – This paper links employees’ relationship orientation, or their sense that the organization respects their contribution, to value co-creation and overall firm performance. It also measures the effects on innovation and knowledge sharing.

Design/methodology/approach – A total of 301 US product and marketing managers participated in a survey. Measurement and structural models were evaluated using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings – Main findings suggest that increased value co-creation (VCC) activity has a significant effect on employee relationship orientation. This study also finds that employee relationship orientation plays a mediating role in the relationship between VCC and firm …

Neuronal Mct2 Promotes Angiogenesis Via Lactate In The Developing Mouse Neocortex, Daehoon Lee, Anika Wu, Lingling Yao, Shreya Satish, Lin Mei, Wen Cheng Xiong

Faculty Scholarship

Neural activity drives blood vessel (BV) formation and energy substrate delivery in the developing brain to meet rising metabolic demands; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, we exposed neonatal mice to chronic whisker stimulation (WS), a paradigm known to enhance BV formation in the somatosensory (S1) cortex. Transcriptomic (RNA-seq) and spatial (RNA-scope) analyses revealed that WS upregulated monocarboxylate transporter 2 (MCT2) in cortical neurons and MCT1 in endothelial cells (ECs). These changes coincided with increased cortical lactate levels, elevated astrocytic vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFa), and enhanced angiogenesis. Functional experiments demonstrated that neuronal MCT2 is …

Replacement Reply Brief For Plaintiff-Appellant Mona Salcida Murillo, Madeline H. Meth

Faculty Scholarship

Defendants’ response brief contains a laundry list of all the ways they think Mona Murillo fell short in trying to vindicate her rights to be free from sex discrimination and retaliation while incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison. They devote page after page to cataloging the regulations that govern her claims, describing the intricacies of the three-tiered grievance system, and recounting her repeated efforts to navigate that morass. And from all of that, they draw the conclusion that Murillo’s lawsuit should be thrown out of court.

In the process, Defendants take the exhaustion requirement to an extreme that even the …

Evaluating Anti-Sickling Therapies For Sickle Cell Disease: A Microfluidic Assay For Red Blood Cell-Mediated Microvascular Occlusion Under Hypoxia, Zoe Sekyonda, Yuxuan Du, Solomon Oshabaheebwa, Payam Fadaei, Yusang B. Ley, Calvin Abonga, Michael A. Suster, Pedram Mohseni, Umut A. Gurkan

Faculty Scholarship

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is characterized by the polymerization of hemoglobin S (HbS) upon deoxygenation, leading to the formation of sickled red blood cells (RBCs) with reduced deformability. Under hypoxic conditions, the impaired RBC behavior significantly contributes to vaso-occlusive events, hemolysis, and end-organ damage. Consequently, RBC deformability serves as a pivotal hemorheological biomarker for evaluating disease severity and therapeutic response. The OcclusionChip, a microfluidic assay, measures RBCs deformability through microcapillary occlusion. However, its current hypoxic assay relies on a complex nitrogen gas setup, rendering it bulky, expensive, and unsuitable for point-of-care diagnostic use. Here, we optimized a chemically induced hypoxia …

Florent Schmitt's Dionysiaques, Op. 62, Trevor Frost

Faculty Scholarship

This article by Trevor Frost explores Dionysiaques, Op. 62, a groundbreaking work for wind band by French composer Florent Schmitt, situating it within its historical, cultural, and musical contexts. Written in 1913 for the elite Musique de la Garde Républicaine, Dionysiaques stands out as a rare example of original symphonic band repertoire during a time when military bands primarily played marches and transcriptions. Schmitt’s composition blends French impressionism with rhythmic intensity, drawing on the influence of composers like Debussy, Ravel, and his teacher Gabriel Fauré, while also aligning with the forward-looking aesthetics of Stravinsky and early neoclassicism.

Frost discusses …

Knowledge-Driven Interpretative Conditional Diffusion Model For Contrast-Free Myocardial Infarction Enhancement Synthesis, Shuo Li

Faculty Scholarship

Synthesis of myocardial infarction enhancement (MIE) images without contrast agents (CAs) has shown great potential to advance myocardial infarction (MI) diagnosis and treatment. It provides results comparable to late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) images, thereby reducing the risks associated with CAs and streamlining clinical workflows. The existing knowledge-and-data-driven approach has made progress in addressing the complex challenges of synthesizing MIE images (i.e., invisible myocardial scars and high inter-individual variability) but still has limitations in the interpretability of kinematic inference, morphological knowledge integration, and kinematic-morphological fusion, thereby reducing the transparency and reliability of the model and causing information loss during synthesis. In …

The Rise Of Robotics: Surgical Approaches For Rectal Cancer Over Time, Emily F. Simon, Kristen M. Westfall, Kamil Erozkan, Lauren Henke, Meagan Costedio, Trevor Teetor, Jennifer Eva Selfridge, Emily Steinhagen, Ronald Charles

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Robotic surgery for rectal cancer has gained attention for addressing anatomic challenges, though concerns about cost, operative time, and oncologic outcomes persist. Studies on laparoscopic surgery initially showed mixed results regarding long-term oncologic safety, but current data is favorable. Evidence supporting the robotic approach remains limited. This study examined trends in robotic surgery, including facilitation of high-quality oncologic resection, defined by lymph node yield and negative margins, using National Cancer Database (NCDB) data. Methods: A multicenter cohort study analyzed 87,611 patients with stage I–III rectal cancer undergoing definitive resection between 2010 and 2021. Outcomes included robotic surgery rates, high-quality …

Radiation Shielding Performance And Molecular Stability Of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (Uhmwpe) Fiber-Reinforced Hydrogen-Rich Polybenzoxazine Composites Following Space Environment Exposure On The International Space Station, Pablo Froimowicz, Hatsuo Ishida

Faculty Scholarship

This study investigates the performance and molecular stability of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fiber-reinforced hydrogen-rich polybenzoxazine composites exposed to the space environment on the International Space Station (ISS). The composite is designed specifically for spacecraft applications requiring lightweight radiation shielding against galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and short beam shear testing were used to evaluate both surface degradation and bulk property retention. Chemical degradation due to direct sunlight exposure is limited to the uppermost 30 nm of the composite surface, with formation of hydroxyl …

Out From The Shadows: Party Documents In Chinese Courts, Benjamin L. Liebman, Eva Gao, Xiaohan Wu, Rachel E. Stern, Margaret Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

The Communist Party’s influence over the Chinese legal system is generally assumed to be behind the scenes, largely invisible to outside observers. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, there has been renewed attention within and outside of China to the relationship between the Communist Party and the legal system. Much of this recent writing has emphasized the degree to which Xi’s efforts to affirm Party superiority and break down barriers between the Party and the State reflects a profound shift in governance and a reversal of a decades-long effort to distinguish between Party roles and those …

Will Systematic Stewardship Save The Planet?, Zohar Goshen, Assaf Hamdani

Faculty Scholarship

The largest institutional investors have solidified their status as “universal owners,” holding almost eighty percent of the U.S. stock market. The growing influence of these investors over the companies they invest in has sparked optimism among scholars and activists that asset managers will use their clout to steer firms towards Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives. But such optimism may be misplaced. Focusing on carbon emission reduction, we argue that universal owners lack the necessary incentives and competence to pressure corporations to lower emissions.

Universal owners market ESG investments with conflicting promises of “doing well while doing good.” The untenable …

Taxes And Tournaments, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

What is the best way to reduce economic inequality? Economists, lawyers, political philosophers, and politicians have pondered this question for decades. Yet there is another group of savvy and highly motivated individuals who have been thinking about redistribution for just as long. Commissioners of the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball, together with team owners and player unions, have been inventing and reinventing ways to redistribute resources, and they continue to do so today. The same is true of the President of National Collegiate Athletic Association, along with the heads of …