Digital Commons Network^™

The "Not Seen" Effect Of International Financial Centers: Innovation In The Global Financial Ecosystem, Charlotte Ku, Andrew P. Morriss

Faculty Scholarship

International Financial Centers (IFCs) are hubs of legal and financial innovation, developing specialized frameworks that facilitate cross-border investment, enhance global capital mobility, and support economic growth. Through jurisdictional competition, professional clustering, and adaptive regulatory frameworks, IFCs have pioneered legal structures that enable enterprises of all sizes to participate in the global economy. Using case studies of the International Business Company, the Limited Liability Company, the Protected Cell Company, and advances in trust law and applying the theoretical frameworks of social scientist Richard Florida and psychologist Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, this Article illustrates how IFCs serve as laboratories for financial experimentation, generating widely …

Pragmatics And Textualism, Lawrence B. Solum

Faculty Scholarship

In theoretical linguistics the word “pragmatics” refers to the roles of context and communicative intentions in the production of meaning. Those roles include contextual disambiguation and the communication of implicit content via “pragmatic enrichment.” Textualism is sometimes characterized as the view that the meaning of statutory texts should not take context into account, but that characterization is misleading. Not only do self-identified textualists explicitly maintain that context should be considered when interpreting statutes—all good textualists must do so. Absent consideration of context, the meaning of statutory texts would be pervasively ambiguous, sparse, and incomplete. Good textualism requires pragmatics.

“Pragmatics and …

A New Parlor Is Open: Microfeminisms Are Needed In Law School To Combat Gender Bias, Stephanie J. Thompson

Faculty Scholarship

A recent viral trend on TikTok has spotlighted women attorneys who are leveraging microfeminisms to uplift other women and challenge entrenched gender norms within the workplace. The hashtag #microfeminism has garnered over a billion views, underscoring a growing interest in this nuanced form of advocacy. Microfeminism encompasses the subtle, everyday actions individuals—regardless of gender—take to promote gender equity and disrupt traditional expectations, both personally and professionally. In contrast to broader feminist movements that often seek systemic reform, microfeminism focuses on the interpersonal and individual level, recognizing the transformative potential of seemingly small gestures. This Article aims to initiate a critical …

Law And Political Economy: Missing Markets, Missing Law, And Missing Political Economy, Andrew P. Morriss, Roger E. Meiners

Faculty Scholarship

This Article critiques the "Law and Political Economy" (LPE) framework. It aims to challenge the Law and Economics (L&E) approach. We argue that LPE lacks a coherent theoretical foundation and fails to engage with empirical evidence, rendering its critiques of markets, law, and political economy incomplete and unpersuasive. By contrast, L&E provides robust analytical tools and a well-developed understanding of legal and market dynamics, is grounded in empirical research, and has theoretical consistency. We illustrate these points through historical examples in the evolution of L&E and suggest ways LPE can evolve to offer a meaningful alternative. Rigorous intellectual competition will …

Trade Integration, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Accounts concerning the world trading system usually start the debate from the negotiation of the GATT. Trade integration before the First World War, though, had been quite remarkable, and the study of this era enriches our understanding of modern institutions in at least two ways. First, a number of GATT provisions had already been shaped during discussions following the advent of the League of Nations. Second, trade integration before the First World War did not manage to put a brake on belligerent behaviour, putting to rest the old Montesquieuan idea of doux commerce. Recent developments (like the invasion of …

Administrative Law And The Pandemic, Gillian E. Metzger

Faculty Scholarship

American administrative law’s relationship to change is, as they say, compli­cated. On the one hand, continual evolution has been an endemic feature of American administrative law. Doctrines such as Chevron deference to agency statutory interpretations were born, grew, and declined in just the period from the 1980s to today. On the other, the United States (US) Supreme Court regularly rejects such common law development in administrative law as illegitimate and insists that federal judges must adhere to the original terms of the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other statutes, unless the Constitution requires otherwise. And to this day scholars …

Trump Attacks On Climate Science May Violate Numerous Federal Laws, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Starting on its first day on January 20, 2025, the second Trump administration has launched an unprecedented rollback of efforts to fight climate change. The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law’s Climate Backtracker already has 117 items.

Much of this is aimed at scientific research on climate change, or has the effect of inhibiting the conduct and dissemination of this research. Many of these actions may also violate federal laws.

This article discusses these actions, some of their legal implications, and the litigation challenges that have already been brought. It begins with actions that are specifically aimed at climate research, …

Working To Death: Labor Law In The 100 Year Life, Kate Andrias

Faculty Scholarship

Without significant changes in labor law, the 100-year life will almost certainly be defined by deep inequities. Working-class people, and workers of color in particular, are least likely to enjoy extended life spans. And if they do live longer, they are unlikely to enjoy a leisurely retirement in which they decide how they spend their extra years. Instead, they will face more toil and precarity. This chapter imagines a different future. It asks: What would the 100-year life look like if working people had a greater hand in shaping it? What would a legal regime look like that gave working …

The 100-Year Life And The New Family Law, Naomi Cahn, Clare Huntington, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter reflects on the future of family law in an era of longer lives. Our analysis leads us to conclude that the 100-year life is indeed likely to have an impact on the nature, scope, and definition of family law, but that families will continue to function as the primary setting for intimacy and for caregiving and caretaking, whatever form those families take. Further, the importance to both individual and social welfare of family support throughout life points to a need for reform of current family law doctrine. The impact of longer life on doctrines regulating the relationship of …

Deepfakes In Domestic And International Perspective, Jane C. Ginsburg, Graeme W. Austin

Faculty Scholarship

Have you always (or ever) yearned to produce your own recording of Elvis Presley singing great baritone arias from Italian opera? Or to make a movie starring Nicole Kidman as Lady Macbeth? Or a videogame featuring the bully who tormented you in high school suffering repeated tortures worthy of the Christian martyrdoms recounted with gusto in The Golden Legend? You can fulfill all these wishes, and more, thanks to the AI technology enabling the creation of “deepfakes” — known in legal documents as “digital replicas” — capable of simulating the visual and vocal appearance of real people, living or …

Political Threads In Legal Tapestry: A Computational Analysis Of Executive Branch Legal Interpretation, 1934–2022, Reilly S. Steel

Faculty Scholarship

How does the push and pull between law and politics shape the work of executive branch lawyers charged with providing “neutral” interpretations of the law? To shed light on this longstanding question, this Article undertakes the first large-scale computational analysis of legal interpretation in the executive branch of the United States federal government. Using a new dataset comprised of the texts of 12,879 pages of opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the Department of Justice (DOJ), I use machine learning methods to explore markers of partisanship and ideology in these high-profile executive branch decisions.

Several important …

Constraining The Family Regulation System: The Contribution Of The Restatement Of The Law, Children And The Law, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Advocates, policymakers, and scholars have argued for years that the family regulation system (also known as the child welfare system) fails families. Critics rightly note that the system does far too little to support families proactively and does not address the poverty and structural racism underlying many allegations of child abuse and neglect. The overrepresentation of Black, Native American, and Native Alaskan children in foster care is a stark and disturbing manifestation of these failings.

In response to these concerns, there is an active debate about abolishing or radically reforming the family regulation system to direct government funding to proactive …

Restating The Law Of Children And Youth: The Evolution Of Reform, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

A brief roadmap of this article may be helpful. Part I describes the emergence of the Child Wellbeing framework and its powerful role in shaping twenty-first-century youth justice reforms captured by the Restatement. Part II shows how this framework has begun to have a far broader influence on the law affecting children and how the framework and the developmental approach embodied in the Restatement can guide courts and shape the trajectory of the law in the future. Part III explores potential challenges to the Restatement’s effectiveness in attaining a fully integrated system based on the Child Wellbeing framework.

Antiracist Expert Evidence, Jasmine Gonzales Rose, Asees Bhasin, Spencer Piston

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2020, when mass protests against racism swept across the United States, scholars, lawyers, and the general public have become increasingly aware that racism permeates society and the criminal legal system, from overt racial animus to the nuanced effects of structural racism. Demonstrating the influence of racism is therefore vital to the practice of criminal defense, yet many attorneys do not know how to prove racism in court. We surveyed over seven hundred criminal-defense attorneys across the United States, and nearly half had never heard of expert witnesses testifying or submitting written reports on racism—what we call “antiracist expert evidence.” …

Do Bans On Conversion Therapy Impose A Governmental "Orthodoxy" About Sex And Gender?, Linda C. Mcclain

Faculty Scholarship

In Part I, this Essay evaluates how orthodoxy arguments featured in Mr. Tingley’s challenge to Washington’s ban on conversion therapy. Part II offers a preliminary analysis of Chiles v. Salazar, ⁴² which the Court will hear during its 2025-2026 Term. I illustrate how the arguments made against Washington’s law by Chiles and her amici draw from the anti-orthodoxy and marketplace of ideas rhetoric found not only in Justice Thomas’s Tingley dissent and his NIFLA opinion but also in Justice Gorsuch’s majority opinion in the 303 Creative decision.⁴³ Woven together with these speech arguments are appeals to the Court’s …

Neuroarts And Neuroaesthetics, James Hutson, Piper Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Recent advancements in neuroarts and neuroaesthetics have elucidated the relationship between artistic engagement and neural processes, emphasizing the impact of aesthetic experiences on cognitive and emotional well-being. Central to this exploration is the NeuroArts Blueprint initiative, which consolidates interdisciplinary research to better understand the impactful role of the arts on brain function and health outcomes. Empirical studies highlight how exposure to art, such as music or visual stimuli, activates neural circuits involved in emotion regulation, memory, and reward processing, particularly engaging the medial orbitofrontal cortex. Innovations such as haptic and electro-tactile devices have introduced novel sensory modalities that not only …

Non-Finite Clause Use In Disciplinary Research Writing: A Formulaic Sequence-Based Functional Comparison Between Expert And Student Writers, Xixin Qiu

Faculty Scholarship

Non-finite clauses (NFCs), despite their increasingly recognized role in second language (L2) acquisition and academic writing as part of a multidimensional conceptualization of syntactic complexity, have not been analyzed in functional and discipline-specific perspectives. This study addresses this gap by providing a linguistic-descriptive account of NFC use in expert and advanced student English research writing. Using a 2.26-million-word corpus of published research articles and student manuscripts in Agricultural Science, this study profiles the distribution of NFC subtypes and identifies frequent discoursal functions realized by non-finite verb-centered formulaic sequences. The findings reveal significant differences in NFC use across writer groups, with …

Capturing Interfacial Phase Change And Flow Physics During Vertical Downflow Condensation, Thanh Hoang Phan, Cho Ning Huang, Chirag R. Kharangate

Faculty Scholarship

Two-phase configurations can address the urgent demand for effective heat dissipation solutions in Naval power and energy systems. A better understanding of thermal transport processes in phase-change flows is critical for developing novel two-phase design tools for naval scientists and engineers. This study investigates interfacial phase change and flow dynamics during condensation flow through numerical simulations. An enhanced phase change model, incorporating a mass transfer intensity coefficient dependent on condensation film thickness, is implemented for vertical downflow condensation. A two-dimensional homogeneous two-phase Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes model, coupled with the Shear-Stress Transport k-ω turbulence model, is employed. The developed solver is thoroughly …

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura In Pediatric Patients, Niki Shrestha, Robert W. Maitta

Faculty Scholarship

Thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura is a serious disease that can involve complex symptomatology, prolonged hospitalization, and a high risk of mortality if treatment is delayed. This disease is rare, but it is even rarer among pediatric patients. Even though it was first described 100 years ago, the earliest documented case was a pediatric patient. The last three decades have seen the discovery of the pathological mechanisms responsible for its clinical presentation. Symptoms/signs characteristic of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia with significant thrombocytopenia characterize the vast majority of patients. Its pathology centers on the accumulation of ultra-large von Willebrand factor multimers due to an …

Politics And Collection Development: Behaviors In Library Collecting Based On Political Climates, Zachary G. Stein, Lindsey M. Reno

Faculty Scholarship

Over the last several years libraries in the United States have dealt with an increasing number of book challenges and calls for censorship of materials. The challenges and calls for censorship are no longer only from library patrons, but now include national organizations and even local and state legislators. Some of these actions have moved to criminalize librarians and curtail first amendment rights. Due to this new climate, it is important to examine the effect these culture wars have on library collection development decisions. This quantitative study seeks to answer that question with a nationwide survey of library professionals.

Evaluation Of Objective Methods For Analyzing Ipsilateral Motor Evoked Potentials In Stroke Survivors With Chronic Upper Extremity Motor Impairment, Xin Li, Jayme S. Knutson, Xiaofeng Wang, Ken Uchino, Ela B. Plow, David A. Cunningham

Faculty Scholarship

Objective. Ipsilateral motor evoked potentials (iMEPs) are believed to represent cortically evoked excitability of uncrossed brainstem-mediated pathways. In the event of extensive injury to (crossed) corticospinal pathways, which can occur following a stroke, uncrossed ipsilateral pathways may serve as an alternate resource to support the recovery of the paretic limb. However, iMEPs, even in neurally intact people, can be small, infrequent, and noisy, so discerning them in stroke survivors is very challenging. This study aimed to investigate the inter-rater reliability of iMEP features (presence/absence, amplitude, area, onset, and offset) to evaluate the reliability of existing methods for objectively analyzing iMEPs …

Recruitment And Retention Challenges In Southeastern Us Academic Libraries, Christopher Stewart, J.B. Hill, Louise L. Lowe, Jenna Eastwood Hill

Faculty Scholarship

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify challenges to recruitment and retention in academic libraries in the southeastern United States and to identify possible solutions that can be shared with other academic library recruiters.

Design/methodology/approach – This study reports on a survey of academic library administrators that investigated the challenges to recruitment and retention in academic libraries in the southeastern United Statesafter the pandemic.

Findings – The study demonstrates that elements of the workplace, such as compensation, diversity efforts, work arrangement accommodations and external factors, impact recruitment and retention. Originality/value – This study broadens the current research …

Consensus Recommendations Regarding Local And Metastasis-Directed Therapies In The Management Of Relapsed/Recurrent Ewing Sarcoma, Shauna R. Campbell, Erin Murphy, Matteo Trucco Pediatrics

Faculty Scholarship

Limited randomized or prospective data are available to guide local/metastasis directed therapy (LMDT) in relapsed/recurrent Ewing sarcoma (RR-ES), resulting in uncertainty regarding best clinical practice for these patients. This report reviews the available literature on LMDT approaches and provides consensus recommendations regarding therapeutic decision making, timing, and indications for the use of LMDT in the management of RR-ES. LMDT should be considered on a case-by-case basis to assess appropriateness, optimal timing/modality, palliative versus curative intent, and its role in relation to chemotherapy. One commonly used LMDT is radiotherapy (RT), which can be delivered through standard, hypofractionated, or stereotactic techniques based …

Characterization Of The Gut Microbiome In Alzheimer Disease And Mild Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults In Uganda: A Case-Control Study, Martha Sajatovic, Scott M. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

Alzheimer disease (AD) is associated with significant shifts in the gut microbiome and is characterized by reduced microbial diversity and changes in the abundance of specific taxa. These alterations can disrupt the gut-brain axis, leading to increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut"), systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress. Such microbial changes are thought to contribute to neurodegenerative changes, as observed in AD and cognitive decline, thus emphasizing the role of the microbiome in aging-related neurological health. Our study in urban and rural population in Uganda recruited 104 participants aged 60 years and older, categorized into AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and control …

Glycation Metabolites Predict Incident Age-Related Comorbidities And Mortality In Older People With Hiv, Xi Qiao, Liangliang Zhang, Ming Wang

Faculty Scholarship

Glycation is a class of modifications arising from non-enzymatic reactions of reducing sugars with proteins, lipids, and/or DNA, generating advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). AGEs are linked to many age-related comorbidities. In response to HIV-1 infection, activated T-cells and macrophages shift their predominate metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis. Increased glycolytic flux enhances AGE formation, which may increase age-related comorbidities. In this prospective, multicenter cohort study of antiretroviral therapy treated people with HIV, we explored predictive associations by baseline plasma AGE concentrations and their corresponding detoxification metabolites, with incident comorbidities and mortality. AGEs included dicarbonyl sugars: 3-deoxyglucosone, glyoxal, and methylglyoxal. Methylglyoxal-derived …

Cystic Fibrosis-Related Neurodegenerative Disease Associated With Tauopathy And Cognitive Decline In Aged Cf Mice, Danica F. Patton-Parfyonov, Xinming Wang, Sarah Barker, Deborah A. Corey, Edwin Vázquez-Rosa, Nichele Abeyesundere, Whitney M. Ward, Rebecca Darrah, Jung A. Woo, David E. Kang, Andrew A. Pieper, Thomas J. Kelley

Faculty Scholarship

Background: Highly effective modulator therapies (HEMT) are increasing the lifespan for many people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF), making it necessary to identify and understand CF specific age-related consequences. In this study, we examine the impact of aging on cognitive function and age-related brain pathology in a CF mouse model focusing on phospho-Tau (pTau) pathology. Methods: Cognitive function was measured by novel object recognition and spontaneous alternation behavior tests. Hippocampal neuronal function was assessed by measuring long-term potentiation (LTP) electrophysiology, the synaptic correlate of learning and memory. Tau pathology was assessed by immunohistochemical analyses and western blot assessment of pTau levels …

Materials Data Science Ontology(Mds-Onto): Unifying Domain Knowledge In Materials And Applied Data Science, Balashanmuga Priyan Rajamohan, Alexander C. Harding Bradley, Van D. Tran, Jonathan E. Gordon, Hayden W. Caldwell, Redad Mehdi, Gabriel Ponon, Quynh D. Tran, Ozan Dernek, Benjamin G. Pierce, Raymond Wieser, Weiqi Yue, Kiefer Lin, Jiana Kambo, Arafath Nihar, Pawan K. Tripathi, Yinghui Wu, Laura S. Bruckman, Erika I. Barcelos, Roger H. French

Faculty Scholarship

Ontologies have gained popularity in the scientific community as a way to standardize terminologies in organizations’ data. Although certain cohorts have created frameworks with rules and guidelines on creating ontologies, there exist significant variations in how Materials Science ontologies are currently developed. We seek to provide guidance in the form of a unified automated framework for developing interoperable and modular ontologies for Materials Data Science that simplifies the ontology terms matching by establishing a semantic bridge up to the Basic Formal Ontology(BFO). This framework provides key recommendations on how ontologies should be positioned within the semantic web, what knowledge representation …

A Simple One‐Item Nursing Falls Assessment Predicts Outcomes For Patients With Stage D Heart Failure Undergoing Surgical Advanced Therapies, Thomas Joseph O'Neill Iv, Eiran Z. Gorodeski

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction: Frailty portends worse outcomes for patients with advanced heart failure (HF) undergoing surgical advanced therapies. Falls are characteristic of frailty, but it is unknown if the history of falls predicts post-operative risk. We hypothesized that a one-item fall screening is associated with worse outcomes. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of all patients undergoing orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) or left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation at our institution between 2020 and 2023. Our primary exposure of interest was falls, as assessed by a nursing questionnaire within 12 months or less prior to surgery. We tracked hospital- and ICU-length of …

Ai & Xr Explorations To Support Social Interactions: Speculative Design For Ubiquitous Workplace Space By And For Neurodivergent Employees, Dominique Michaud, Alejandro Reyes, Jonathan Proulx Guimond, Fafadzi Akpene Agbe, Valérie Payen, Diane Gabrielle Tremblay, Marie Claude Leblanc, Claude Vincent, Geoffreyjen Edwards, Caroline Brassard, Marie Helene Parizeau, Valéry Psyche, Martin Caouette, James Hutson, Piper Hutson, Julie Ruel, Julien Voisin, Jocelyne Kiss

Faculty Scholarship

This study explores the potential of interdisciplinary theories and advanced technologies, such as augmented realities and artificial intelligence, to address the socio-professional integration challenges faced by neurodivergent individuals, particularly those on the autism spectrum. It investigates the design of personalized, functional spaces that integrate interconnected living environments and intelligent systems tailored to support communication needs. Using speculative design methodology, the research adopts an experiential framework to examine alternative solutions, starting with a central hypothesis and testing it through debates with researchers, experts, neurodivergent individuals, and knowledge users. The premise is rooted in the recognition that neurodivergent individuals encounter significant barriers …

Integrating Ai-Driven Neurofeedback With Brain-Computer Interfaces: A Paradigm For Effortless Learning And Workforce Transformation, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This editorial discusses the merging of AI-driven neurofeedback with brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to create a new model for effortless, unconscious learning. By interpreting and reinforcing specific neural patterns, these technologies can enable users to acquire skills without traditional instruction, making them especially valuable in fast-evolving industries. They also offer powerful tools for individuals with physical impairments by enabling control through thought alone. However, the author emphasizes the importance of ethical oversight, particularly around cognitive autonomy, data privacy, and consent. As the field matures, ongoing research and regulation will be essential to ensure responsible development and widespread, beneficial use.