Digital Commons Network^™

Classroom To Cyberspace: Preserving Street Law's Interactive And Student-Centered Focus During Distance Learning, Amy Wallace

Articles & Chapters

The Street Law program at New York Law School (NYLS) is a faculty taught, credit-bearing course that trains law students to teach interactive lessons covering practical legal topics at The Charter High School for Law & Social Justice (CHSLSJ), in the Bronx, New York.

On March 3, 2020, NYLS moved online due to the rapid rise of COVID cases in New York City. Like many clinical and experiential programs, we weighed options that would provide both valuable experiences for our high school and law students while keeping everyone safe.

On Sunday March 15, 2020, the New York City public schools …

The Makings Of A Culturally Savvy Lawyer: Novel Approaches For Teaching And Assessing Cross-Cultural Skills In Law School, Shahrokh Falati

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Getting Past Possession: Subsurface Property Disputes As Nuisances, Joseph Schremmer

Faculty Articles

Property rights in the subsurface of land are adapting to accommodate modern activities like massive hydraulic fracturing (fracing). Property rights will need to continue adapting if they are to accommodate other developing activities like large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS). Courts and commentators rarely approach the nature of subsurface property directly. They tend instead to discuss appropriate standards for tort liability when disputes arise — for example when artificial fissures from a frac treatment extend into and drain oil or gas from a neighbor’s land. The case law and literature generally approach unauthorized subterranean invasions as trespasses. Because the tort …

The Lesser Of Two Evils: Lowering The Constitutional Amendment Bar To Avoid An Unadaptable Constitution, Encouraged Judicial Activism, And Disrupted Federalism, Hayley Stillwell

Faculty Articles

The Constitution has not been amended for nearly three decades. During this time, the line in the sand between political parties has morphed into an impenetrable wall that neither side can or is willing to breach. This begs the question whether the constitutional amendment process in Article V is presently functional. If Article V is no longer functional, then the constitutional amendment process itself needs to be amended. Drastic as this sounds, it is the lesser of two evils. The alternative—accepting that Article V is dead and the Constitution cannot be amended—will lead to a distorted world in which the …

Assessing Program Outcomes Of An M.Ed. Curriculum And Instruction Program: A Comparison Of Face-To-Face To Completely Online Deliverables, James A. Telese, Gregory Chamblee

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Many mathematics education degree programs, especially at the graduate level, are now transitioning to an online format. There is a need to document how mathematics content and content pedagogy are assessed in an online environment. The objectives of this chapter are to document how a public higher education institution in Texas transitioned their master's degree program for mathematics teachers from a face-to-face program to an online program and how this transition impacted the assessment process related to the learning of content and pedagogical content knowledge.

In A World Of "Fake News," What's A Social Media Platform To Do?, Evelyn Aswad

Faculty Articles

While the circulation of disinformation and misinformation online can pose a variety of risks to societies around the world, it should also be of concern that overreacting to such false information can undermine human rights, including freedom of expression. The business operations of global social media platforms frequently intersect with this latter concern because of a spike in the adoption of national laws that ban “fake news” as well as their own platform policies to tackle false information. This Essay assesses the corporate responsibility standards afforded by the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights as well as …

Losing The Freedom To Be Human, Evelyn Aswad

Faculty Articles

In 2019, Apple’s CEO warned that contemporary business models, which are based on harvesting our personal data and monetizing everything we do online, violate our privacy and will eventually cause us “to lose the freedom to be human.” Others have taken this privacy concern a step further by questioning whether these business models undermine mental autonomy, i.e., the ability to think and form opinions. The burgeoning chorus of concerns has triggered a variety of high-profile calls to explore whether international human rights law protects against intrusions on the inner sanctum of one’s mind, particularly with respect to the business models …

To Protect Freedom Of Expression, Why Not Steal Victory From The Jaws Of Defeat?, Evelyn Aswad

Faculty Articles

Global social media platforms are grappling with whether to align their corporate speech codes with international human rights law. Facebook’s June 2019 report that summarized worldwide feedback about its proposed independent oversight board for content moderation noted a split in stakeholder opinions on this topic. The UN’s top expert on freedom of expression as well as many civil society members recommended that Facebook anchor its content moderation in the international human rights law regime. Others expressed concern that this legal regime would not be sufficiently protective of speech and contained inconsistencies that create problems for content moderation. Those concerns were …

Police Funding, Stephen Rushin, Roger Michalski

Faculty Articles

A number of civil rights activists have called for the defunding or abolition of American police departments. These activists claim that the United States overinvests in police, leaving fewer scarce resources to support other government services. Activists also claim that overinvestment in policing contributes to higher rates of police misconduct and unnecessary criminalization, particularly in communities of color. This Article considers these calls for the defunding of police. It ultimately cautions against widespread defunding of police and offers an alternative proposal. Part I brings together multiple national databases on local government expenditures to evaluate empirically how states and municipalities fund …

Expedited Trial Programs In Federal Court: Why Won't Attorneys Get On The Fast Track?, Steven S. Gensler, Jason Cantone

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Double Jeopardy’S Dual Sovereignty: A Tragic (And Implausible) Lack Of Humility, Stephen E. Henderson, Dean Strang

Faculty Articles

The core proposition of the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause is as intuitive as it is straightforward. After all, if a state could prosecute someone despite her previous conviction or acquittal, then the scope of punishment would be unlimited and its threat unending—the sort of proposition only a tyrant could love. Yet, in Gamble v. United States, the Supreme Court once again blessed a dual sovereignty exception that permits just such duplicative prosecutions. We hardly are the first to question this rule, but we submit the Court’s most recent primary mistakes were two. First, the Court began from a …

Double Standards: An Empirical Study Of Patent And Trademark Discipline, Jon J. Lee

Faculty Articles

Our legal system is built on the foundation that lawyers have a number of coexisting and sometimes conflicting duties — to their clients, to others who might be affected by their practice, and to the effective and equitable administration of justice. While most lawyers fulfill these duties ethically, invariably some fail to live up to these expectations. For this reason, all states have created disciplinary authorities to regulate and sanction lawyer misconduct. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is one of the few agencies to have developed its own disciplinary system for policing the conduct of trademark attorneys …

Enhancing Cybersecurity By Generating User-Specific Security Policy Through The Formal Modeling Of User Behavior, Arwa Alqadheeb

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the ongoing efforts to develop cutting-edge security solutions, the question always remains whether these technologies can overcome system vulnerabilities that often result from poor security practices made by end-users. Recently, some research devoted to study the human role in cybersecurity, especially the psychological aspect. Researchers found that the users’ responses to security-related situations correlate with various elusive factors such as demographics, personality traits, decision-making styles, and risk-taking preferences. That explains why some users neglect to act according to common security tips and advice. The goal of this research is to make cybersecurity maintain a high-level of quality and reliability; …

An Outcome Assessment Of A Single Institution's Longitudinal Experience With Uveal Melanoma Patients With Liver Metastasis., Rino S. Seedor, David J. Eschelman, Carin F. Gonsalves, Robert D. Adamo, Marlana Orloff, Anjum Amjad, Erin Sharpe-Mills, Inna Chervoneva, Carol L. Shields, Jerry A. Shields, Michael Mastrangelo, Takami Sato

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

There is no FDA-approved treatment for metastatic uveal melanoma (UM) and overall outcomes are generally poor for those who develop liver metastasis. We performed a retrospective single-institution chart review on consecutive series of UM patients with liver metastasis who were treated at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital between 1971–1993 (Cohort 1, n = 80), 1998–2007 (Cohort 2, n = 198), and 2008–2017 (Cohort 3, n = 452). In total, 70% of patients in Cohort 1 received only systemic therapies as their treatment modality for liver metastasis, while 98% of patients in Cohort 2 and Cohort 3 received liver-directed treatment either alone …

Individual And Joint Effects Of Metformin And Statins On Mortality Among Patients With High-Risk Prostate Cancer., Xiang-Lin Tan, Jian-Yu E, Yong Lin, Timothy R Rebbeck, Shou-En Lu, Mingyi Shang, William K Kelly, Anthony D'Amico, Mark N Stein, Lanjing Zhang, Thomas L Jang, Isaac Yi Kim, Kitaw Demissie, Anna Ferrari, Grace Lu-Yao

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Pre-clinical studies suggest that metformin and statins may delay prostate cancer (PCa) metastases; however, data in humans are limited. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first human study aimed to quantify the individual and joint effects of statin and metformin use among patients with high-risk PCa.

METHODS: This population-based retrospective cohort study identified patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database. Exposure to metformin and statins was ascertained from Medicare Prescription Drug Event files. The association with all-cause and PCa mortality were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard model with competing causes of death, …

Treating Hematologic Malignancies During A Pandemic: Utilizing Telehealth And Digital Technology To Optimize Care., Adam F Binder, Nathan R Handley, Lindsay Wilde, Neil Palmisiano, Ana Maria Lopez

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

In late January 2020, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) was reported as an outbreak in Wuhan, China. Within 2 months it became a global pandemic. Patients with cancer are at highest risk for both contracting and suffering complications of its resultant disease, Coronavirus 19 (COVID-19). Healthcare systems across the world had to adapt quickly to mitigate this risk, while continuing to provide potentially lifesaving treatment to patients. Bringing care to the home through the use of telehealth, home based chemotherapy, and remote patient monitoring technologies can help minimize risk to the patient and healthcare workers without sacrificing quality …

Management Of Patients With Hematologic Malignancies During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Practical Considerations And Lessons To Be Learned, Alessandro Isidori, Laurence De Leval, Usama Gergis, Pellegrino Musto, Pierluigi Porcu

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented hurdles to the delivery of care to patients with cancer. Patients with hematologic malignancies appear to have a greater risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe disease due to myelosuppression and lymphopenia. The first challenge, therefore, is how to continue to deliver effective, curative therapy to vulnerable patients and at the same time avoid exposing them, and their health care teams (HCT), to SARS-CoV-2. An additional challenge is the timely completion of the diagnostic and staging studies required to formulate appropriate treatment plans. Deferred procedures and avoidance of multiple trips to the surgical, diagnostic, and …

The Perceptions Of Aac Professionals On Supporting The Clinical Translation Of Brain-Computer Interface Technology, Kevin Pitt, Miechelle L. Mckelvey, Kristy Weissling, Brynley Klein

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) provide access to augmentative and alternative communication devices by decoding an individual’s neurological activity. However, while BCI developments are progressing in the research setting, barriers still exist in the clinical setting. These must be overcome to support the successful translation of BCI technology into clinical practice which improves patient outcomes. Therefore, to help facilitate the clinical integration of BCI-AAC, our study sought to identify the perspectives of AAC professionals regarding their

Supporting The Visual-Cognitive Sciences By Exploring The Application Of Photographic Composition To Visual Scene Displays, Kevin Pitt, John Mccarthy, Adrienne R. Pitt

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

AAC systems may be accessed via techniques such as touch, eye gaze and switch scanning, which are then translated into communication output. Traditionally, aided AAC displays utilize a grid layout, arranging communication items in a decontextualized manner. In contrast, visual scene displays (VSDs) utilize context rich images (e.g., photographs) that depict events and activities, presenting communication items in a contextualized manner (e.g., a toy in a toy chest; Wilkinson, Light, & Drager, 2012). Recent research focusing on principles of the visual-cognitive sciences has found that even small changes in how we present communication items in a grid or VSD format …

Photos For Visual Scene Displays: Input From Interviews With Visual Media Experts, Kevin Pitt, Meghan Salley, Kathrin Sindt, John Mccarthy

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Visual Scene Displays (VSDs) are a promising interface for AAC systems for children and adults. Although recent research has focused on design principles of traditional grid displays, there is comparatively little information on VSDs. Ten individuals with a background in photography and visual composition were interviewed following a brief overview of visual scene displays applied to AAC systems. Interviews were analyzed for themes, lasting around 45 minutes each. Participants gave feedback on principles of composition, how those principles inform their own work, and “quick tips” on matching photos with goals related to communication in VSDs.

Individuals whose natural speech is …

The Impact Of Active Learning In A Speech-Language Pathology Swallowing And Dysphagia Course, Rebecca H. Affoo, Justin L. Bruner, Angela M. Dietsch, Ciara Nellenbach, Theresa M. Jones, Mark E. Lehman

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

The signature pedagogy in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) higher education programs has been criticized for its instructor-centric lecture format and emphasis on the lower tiers of Bloom’s taxonomy (simply memorizing knowledge) at the expense of helping students develop the clinical problem-solving skills required for a lifetime of practice and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of a cohort of graduate speech-language pathology students to an active learning-oriented swallowing and dysphagia course design. A potential relationship between student perceptions of the active learning pedagogy and academic performance was also explored. The results suggest that active learning positively …

Magnetic And Magnetocaloric Properties Of Fe2ta Thin Films, S. Shaji, Nikhil R. Mucha, P. Giri, C. Binek, D. Kumar

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

A magnetocaloric effect (MCE) on rare-earth free Fe₂Ta thin films is reported. The structural characterizations carried out using x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy have indicated the formation of a Laves phase in the Fe₂Ta film in a MgZn₂ type crystal structure. Applying the Maxwell relation to the magnetization (M) vs temperature (T) curves at various fields (H), ∂M/∂T vs H curves were inte- grated to indirectly obtain quantitative information about the isothermal entropy change. A positive MCE with an entropy change as high as 6.9 J/K m^{3 …}

Liquid-Phase Mega-Electron-Volt Ultrafast Electron Diffraction, J. P. F. Nunes, K. Ledbetter, M. Lin, M. Kozina, D. P. Deponte, E. Biasin, M. Centurion, C. J. Crissman, M. Dunning, S. Guillet, K. Jobe, Y. Liu, M. Mo, X. Shen, R. Sublett, S. Weathersby, C. Yoneda, T. J. A. Wolf, J. Yang, A. A. Cordones, X. J. Wang

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

The conversion of light into usable chemical and mechanical energy is pivotal to several biological and chemical processes, many of which occur in solution. To understand the structure–function relationships mediating these processes, a technique with high spatial and temporal resolutions is required. Here, we report on the design and commissioning of a liquid-phase mega-electron-volt (MeV) ultrafast electron dif- fraction instrument for the study of structural dynamics in solution. Limitations posed by the shallow penetration depth of electrons and the resulting information loss due to multiple scattering and the technical challenge of delivering liquids to vacuum were overcome through the use …

Foreign Corruption As Market Manipulation, Gina-Gail S. Fletcher

Articles by Maurer Faculty

On March 6, 2019, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it would be taking an active role in prosecuting violations of the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) that involve foreign corruption.[11 On the same date, the CFTC published an enforcement advisory further signaling its intention to investigate and prosecute violations of the laws and regulations of the CEA linked to foreign corrupt practices, such as violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FCPA prohibits US-based businesses from engaging in corrupt practices, such as bribery, in foreign countries in which they do business. Currently, both the Department of …

Do Founders Control Start-Up Firms That Go Public?, Brian Broughman, Jesse M. Fried

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Black & Gilson (1998) argue that an IPO-welcoming stock market stimulates venture deals by enabling VCs to give founders a valuable "call option on control." We study 18,000 startups to investigate the value of this option. Among firms that reach IPO, 60% of founders are no longer CEO. With little voting power, only half of the others survive three years as CEO. At initial VC financing, the probability of getting real control of a public firm for three years is 0.4%. Our results shed light on control evolution in startups, and cast doubt on the plausibility of the call-option theory …

The Debt Collection Pandemic, Pamela Foohey, Dalie Jimenez, Chris Odinet

Articles by Maurer Faculty

To curb the rapid spread of the coronavirus set to overwhelm the United States' healthcare system, in mid-March 2020, the federal government declared a national emergency. Many states followed suit by implementing shelter-at-home orders and people began social distancing across America. As of this writing, the United States' reaction to the unique and alarming threat of COVID 19 has partially succeeded in slowing the virus's spread. Saving people's lives, however, has come at a severe economic cost. Economic activity plummeted. Unemployment numbers soured to figures not seen since the Great Depression and countless other people saw their income disappear.

Americans' …

Examining The Anomalies, Explaining The Value: Should The Usa Freedom Act’S Metadata Program Be Extended?, Susan Landau, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Edward Snowden’s disclosure of National Security Agency (“NSA”) bulk collection of communications metadata was a highly disturbing shock to the American public. The intelligence community was surprised by the response, as it had largely not anticipated a strong negative public reaction to this surveillance program. Controversy over the bulk metadata collection led to the 2015 passage of the USA FREEDOM Act. The law mandated that the intelligence community would collect the Call Detail Records (“CDR”) from telephone service providers in strictly limited ways, not in bulk, and only under order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The new program initially …

Works Of Eleanor D. Kinney, Susan David Demaine

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Eleanor D. Kinney was a prolific scholar throughout her thirty-five years as a professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. She authored or co-authored more than seventy-five journal articles, publishing in numerous peer-reviewed medical and health journals, as well as law reviews. She wrote three books, edited a fourth, and published nine book chapters

Professor Kinney’s work has been cited in at least ten court opinions. Her work has garnered more than 700 citations in law review articles, and nearly 200 in medical and health policy journals. The influence of her work places her within the top …

Keeping Up With New Legal Titles, Susan David Demaine, Susan Azyndar

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Do Blockchain Technologies Make Us Safer? Do Cryptocurrencies Necessarily Make Us Less Safe?, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay is based on a presentation made on January 24, 2020 at the invitation of the Texas Journal of International Law and the Strauss Center for National Security at the University of Texas. That presentation focused on the two questions mentioned in the title of this essay – Do Blockchain Technologies Make Us Safer? And Do Cryptocurrencies Necessarily Make Us Less Safe? The essay presents answers to the two questions: “yes” and “probably yes.” This essay begins with some level-setting on different types of blockchain technologies and of cryptocurrencies, and gives some background materials on global and national responses …