Digital Commons Network^™

Reimagining The Inclusive Jury, Anna Offit

Faculty Publications

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyday life for many Americans was upended. And yet, the jury trial remained viable — even vital. Faced with an era-defining public health disaster, courts innovated, embracing novel technologies and techniques to reimagine where and how justice might be made. But why did it take a pandemic to spur this kind of institutional creativity? Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, people who were otherwise eligible to participate as jurors were routinely — and uncontroversially — struck or exempted from service due to limited mobility, vision and hearing loss, and caregiving responsibilities. Recent experience …

The Delegation Doctrine, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Despite the focus on the Court’s recent major questions cases, signs of an emergent delegation doctrine can also be found elsewhere. Most significantly, seeds of a delegation doctrine have been planted within the Court’s Chevron jurisprudence. The Court’s increased reluctance to grant Chevron deference to administrative agencies--and its insistence that courts first conclude that interpretive authority has been delegated before deferring to any agency interpretation—rests on the same core premise as the Court’s recent major questions doctrine decisions. It also suggests that the “new” major questions doctrine is not as new as it might seem, but rather a logical outgrowth …

Naming, Expressive Interests, And The Law: The Implications Of Governmental Form Design, Laura A. Heymann

Faculty Publications

The design of governmental forms can result in restrictions on the ability of individuals to submit truthful personal naming choices, such as when a form field has character limitations or does not accept diacritics. In some instances, form design operationalizes government policy. But in other instances, form design can itself create law by limiting the ability to submit accurate names on the front end. Awareness of the legal implications of form design is critically important. A more inclusive and accurate approach toward the legal documentation of naming choices means that forms should adapt to people, not the other way around.

Patent Term Tailoring, Sarah R. Wasserman Rajec

Faculty Publications

Patent rights are designed to encourage innovation with both the promise of a patent and with its expiration. Currently, patent term lasts from issuance until twenty years from the application date, with minor exceptions. The patent term is limited so that rewards for past invention do not overly hinder future progress. Although the goal is laudable, a uniform patent term is a blunt instrument to achieve such a nuanced balance. Historically, the patent system was not averse to tailoring terms through, for example, individually granted extensions to undercompensated inventors or term curtailment when a foreign patent holder failed to “work” …

Mechanism Of Action Of Kl-50, A Candidate Imidazotetrazine For The Treatment Of Drug-Resistant Brain Cancers, Eric D. Huseman, Anna Lo, Olga Fedorova, James L. Elia, Susan E. Gueble, Kingson Lin, Ranjini K. Sundaram, Jooneseok Oh, Jinchan Liu, Fabian Menges, Matthew G. Rees, Melissa M. Ronan, Jennifer A. Roth, Victor S. Batista, Jason M. Crawford, Anna M. Pyle, Ranjit S. Bindra, Seth B. Herzon

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Aberrant DNA repair is a hallmark of cancer, and many tumors display reduced DNA repair capacities that sensitize them to genotoxins. Here, we demonstrate that the differential DNA repair capacities of healthy and transformed tissue may be exploited to obtain highly selective chemotherapies. We show that the novel N3-(2-fluoroethyl)imidazotetrazine “KL-50” is a selective toxin toward tumors that lack the DNA repair protein O⁶-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT), which reverses the formation of O⁶-alkylguanine lesions. We establish that KL-50 generates DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs) by a multistep process comprising DNA alkylation to generate an O⁶-(2-fluoroethyl)guanine (O⁶FEtG) …

Terra-Lsd1 Phase Separation Promotes R-Loop Formation For Telomere Maintenance In Alt Cancer Cells, Nicholas J. Reiter

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The telomere repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) forms R-loops to promote homology-directed DNA synthesis in the alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT) pathway. Here we report that TERRA contributes to ALT via interacting with the lysine-specific demethylase 1A (LSD1 or KDM1A). We show that LSD1 localizes to ALT telomeres in a TERRA dependent manner and LSD1 function in ALT is largely independent of its demethylase activity. Instead, LSD1 promotes TERRA recruitment to ALT telomeres via RNA binding. In addition, LSD1 and TERRA undergo phase separation, driven by interactions between the RNA binding properties of LSD1 and the G-quadruplex structure of TERRA. Importantly, the …

Mirabile Dictu: The Bryn Mawr College Library Newsletter 27 (2024), Bryn Mawr College Library

Mirabile Dictu: Newsletter of the Bryn Mawr College Libraries

No abstract provided.

Electrospun Pt-Tio₂ Nanofibers Doped With Hpa For Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation, Amos Taiswa, Randy L. Maglinao, Jessica M. Andriolo, Sandeep Kumar, Jack L. Skinner

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Electrospinning is utilized to fabricate catalytic nanofiber scaffold for biocrude upgrading in hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) following computational studies suggesting the need for nano-catalysts for efficient HDO conversion and selectivity. Here, Pt-TiO₂ nanofibers are fabricated through electrospinning, followed by wet impregnation with a heteropoly acid (HPA), tungstosilicic acid. Intensive heat treatments were incorporated during and after processes to obtain a HPA doped Pt-TiO₂ nano-catalyst. Catalytic HDO was performed in a batch reactor with phenol as the raw biocrude dissolved in hexadecane. The HPA doped Pt-TiO₂ catalyst demonstrated promising HDO performance of 37.2% conversion and a 78.9% selectivity to oxygen …

The Game, The Players, And The Board, Bruce E. Boyden

Faculty Publications

Christopher Seaman and Thuan Tran’s fascinating article, Intellectual Property and Tabletop Games, raises important questions about the role of intellectual property in developing and distributing innovative products. The market for tabletop games, Seaman and Tran argue, is able to sustain a high level of creativity at a high up-front cost, all while protected by some but not all of the IP rights that other industries’ outputs receive. Is that evidence of IP’s necessity or its superfluousness? In this Response, I argue that the answer is a little bit of both. Whereas prior scholarship has shown the lack of an …

Showing Mercy Through A Presumption Of Retribution, Marah S. Mcleod

Journal Articles

From the Article

This Essay proposes a path toward the systematic consideration of mercy in American sentencing. America does not have to choose between retributive blame on the one hand and nonjudgmental mercy on the other. Inspired by Whitman's description of the European "presumption of mercy," America can implement a presumption of its own-one that opens the door to the nonarbitrary exercise of mercy, while retaining a clear focus on retributive desert. Such a presumption, tailored to American political realities and moral norms, might be called a "presumption of retribution"-and this presumption could be codified in law while explicitly made …

Presidential Adjudication, Emily S. Bremer

Journal Articles

Over the last several decades, administrative law has recognized an expanding role for the President in controlling agency decision making. Agency adjudication—and especially formal hearings conducted under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”)—have been viewed as properly insulated from this development. To protect due process, the APA established a regime for ensuring that competent, impartial Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) preside over formal hearings. The regime includes two apparent levels of for-cause removal protection for ALJs combined with robust agency head control over the policymaking aspects of formal adjudication. Today, the regime is in peril because it appears to be inconsistent with …

Diatom Productivity And Nutrient Dynamics In The Ross Sea, Antarctica During Warm Events In The Neogene, Marialena Christopoulou

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Increased melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) in recent decades, has had a significant impact on many aspects of the global ocean. Models indicate that by the end of the 21st century atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations may exceed 500 ppm, and the average global temperature will likely warm by more than 2°C. However, data that provide model constraints on potential feedbacks in ice-ocean-atmosphere system are limited by short-timescales (e.g., decadal- to centennial-scale) and incomplete spatial coverage. In particular, little is known about the impacts of future warming and widespread melting of AIS on marine biological productivity, silicate weathering …

Inhaling The Unseen: Exploring The Presence Of Microplastics In The Human Respiratory Tract, Kara Coffman-Rea

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Microplastics (plastic pieces less than 5 mm) have emerged as a pervasive form of pollution acknowledged as a universal threat to both environmental and human health. Their small size and widespread distribution pose significant risks to marine life, terrestrial ecosystems, and ultimately human health. Microplastics have been reported in food and drink items designated for human consumption, in cosmetics and consumer goods designed for human use, and within the air we breathe, each providing an entry route for microplastics to enter the human body. Recently, microplastic particles have been detected in a variety of human tissue samples (e.g., lung tissue). …

Applications Of Shape Analysis, Yang Zhang

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Shape analysis is a field of Statistics focused on analyzing and understanding the shape or the geometric properties of objects. We utilize the Bayesian circular cubic smoothing splines to estimate the shapes and introduce a rotation-based alignment method. A simulation study investigates the effect of shape alignment. As an application, we estimate the shapes of hourly crime rates in urban centers across the United States and compare the aligned shapes for different types and locations of crimes. In addition, we apply the proposed shape estimation with alignment to the survival analysis for the length of hospitalization of COVID-19 patients in …

Addressing The Effects Of Counterion Size On The Properties Of Electrochemically Doped Conjugated Polymers, Kyle Baustert

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Conjugated polymers (CPs) are an emerging class of materials that are attractive for many applications due to their low cost, flexibility, and ease of processing. Both chemical and electrochemical doping of CPs is done to alter important properties such as their electrical conductivities and optical absorbances. This ability to tune their properties allows for their use in devices such as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) for biosensing and bioelectronics, electrochromic devices for color changing windows, as well as wearable thermoelectrics to use body heat to power wearable electronics. There are several factors that can influence the properties of doped CPs including …

Single-Atom Catalysts For Electrochemical Energy Conversion: Copper Single-Atom Catalyst For Oxygen Reduction Reaction And Quantification Of Site Density By Co Stripping Voltammetry, Dawatage Perera

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Fuel cells are considered a promising technology for achieving cleaner and more sustainable energy production and utilization. However, one of the current major challenges is the economic viability associated with the extensive use of Pt group metal (PGM) catalysts, particularly on the cathode side. Therefore, non-PGM single-atom catalysts (SACs) have received considerable attention as alternatives for PGM catalysts in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which occurs at the cathode of the fuel cell. Among various SAC structures, the non-PGM/nitrogen-doped carbon-based structure (M-N-C) stands out for its excellent ORR performance.

Chapter 2 illustrates the use of copper metal in place of …

Effect Of Π-Conjugated Ligands And A* Site Organic Cations On The Energetic Properties And Photovoltaic Performance Of Metal Halide Perovskites, Harindi R. Atapattu

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Metal halide perovskites have gained interest in optoelectronic applications such as photovoltaics, lasers, LEDs, transistors, and photodetectors due to their excellent semiconducting properties considering their low cost. Metal halide perovskite (HP) photovoltaics have rapidly increased in power conversion efficiency (PCE), which now exceeds 25%. HPs have gained attention in these applications due to their high tolerance towards defects, long charge carrier diffusion lengths, high charge carrier mobility, high optical absorption, and bandgaps that are tunable over a large range. Even though HP photovoltaic PCEs are improved these are still not commercially available due to them showing lower stability and energy …

Understanding Of Processing Additives Influence In Tin Halide Perovskites: Chemistry, Defect, And Photovoltaic Performance, Syed Rahmath Ullah Joy

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Metal halide perovskite semiconductors have attracted much interest for various applications, such as solar cells, light emitting diodes, photodetectors, and lasers, due to their excellent optoelectronic properties. Photovoltaic cell development is centered on Pb-based perovskites, which have equal photovoltaic performance compared to the traditional silicon photovoltaic. But concerns arising from the usage of toxic lead metal have motivated the research community to seek an alternative derivative. Among those, tin halide perovskites show much promise as an alternative to Pb-counterparts due to their ideal bandgap for single junction photovoltaics and similar optoelectronic properties to Pb perovskites. Nevertheless, tin perovskites suffer from …

Synthetic Strategies Toward The Development Of Stable Gold-Based Anticancer Agents And Their Mechanistic Insight, Adedamola Arojojoye

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Despite notable advancements in the design and synthesis of novel chemotherapeutic drugs, cancer continues to be a leading cause of death in the United States. Metallodrugs, especially Au complexes, have played a prominent role in the search for the next generation of chemotherapeutic agents. Herein, I report on the synthetic strategies towards the rational design of stable Au (Au)-based agents, study their reactivity in biological environment, and offer insights into the cytotoxic mechanism of action in cancer. Chemotherapeutic Au compounds exist mainly in +I or +III oxidation states. Repurposing of the Au(I) FDA approved auranofin for the treatment of diseases …

Synthesis, Functionalization, And Application Of Polymeric Membrane Blends Of Polysulfone, Poly-Ether Ether-Ketone, And Natural Fiber Additive Biochar For Optimal Water Treatment., Abelline Katusiime Fionah

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

According to the Center for disease control (CDC), an estimated 1.7 to 2.2 million persons die from waterborne diseases annually. The majority of individuals dying from diseases resulting from unsafe drinking water, such as diarrhea and gastroenteritis, are children. This has in turn created a global water crisis. Different methods have been developed to treat contaminated water in response to the global water crisis such as adsorption, filtration, ozonolysis, catalysis, etc. Of the methods available, filtration via polymeric membranes has been one of the most successfully applied. A membrane is a thin semi-permeable barrier (often made of a polymer) used …

Investigating Dynamics Of Electron Transfer Flavoprotein And Its Partner Flavodoxin Via Small Angle Neutron Scattering And Fluorine Nmr, Sharique Ahmad Khan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Anaerobic bacteria and archaea thrive in seemingly inhospitable environments because they are extremely energy efficient. Their capacity to fully utilize electrochemical energy is based in large part on their ability to conduct electron transfer bifurcation ('bifurcation') at strongly reducing potentials, thereby producing extremely potent reducing agents able to fix nitrogen and make molecular hydrogen. This chemistry is made possible by the use of a flavin as the site of bifurcation, supported by a specialized protein environment and mechanisms that control the flow of individual electrons.

Bifurcating electron transfer flavoproteins (Bf-ETFs) are versatile protein modules that provide the bifurcating capability associated …

Automation Of Productive Machinery. Bases For An Innovative Business Model, Carlos Guillermo Hernández-Cenzano, Angel Contreras-Cruz, Eduardo Humada-Tello

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nowadays, some laboratories perform elastic properties tests for concrete or rock cores using equipment manufactured 50 years ago. The original data collection procedure uses analog and manual recordings, which can cause inaccuracies in the measurements taken during these trials The process is tedious and updated since each trial's measurement data is recorded manually. In this context, this study systematizes the process and proposes an automated data acquisition and recording system for this type of equipment, followed by a case study presenting a rock compression test.

Anticipating The Needs Of Future Law Students Based On Current Post-Pandemic National Reading Comprehension Test Scores, Nicole R. Chong

Faculty Scholarship

The current state of education in the elementary, middle, and high school levels regarding students’ reading comprehension skills is bleak. Post-pandemic scores are showing up to a thirty-year backslide in reading comprehension testing scores. These concerning decreases do not bode well for students who may enter law schools one day. Let’s anticipate those needs by thinking ahead of ways to remedy potential shortcomings.

Reading comprehension is tied closely to the skills of critical reading and thinking. Other scholars have written extensively in the legal academia field about critical reading and thinking. In fact, no one likely would dispute that critical …

How Saudi Undergraduate Students Perceive Teacher Support, Basic Psychological Needs, And Academic Motivation, Anas M. Alhudib

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the Saudi undergraduate educational environment, exploring relationships among teacher support, basic psychological needs satisfaction and frustration, academic motivation, and GPA. The study investigates whether basic psychological needs mediate the relationship between teacher support and academic motivation, utilizing a structural equation model with 312 Saudi undergraduate students. The findings reveal a positive relationship between teacher support and basic psychological need satisfaction, influencing academic motivation. Interestingly, GPA did not correlate with other variables. Various models were tested, resulting in two sets of models that underscore the significant role of basic psychological needs as mediators in shaping the relationship between …

The Relationship Of Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Inferential Confusion To Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms In A Nonclinical Sample, Fiona Christina Ball

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic cognitive vulnerability that has been linked to obsessive-compulsive (OC) and generalized anxiety (GA) symptoms. Inferential confusion (IC) refers to dysfunctional reasoning which overvalues imagined possibilities and devalues sensory information. The inference-based approach (IBA) proposes that IC generates obsessional doubt which leads to OC symptoms. Conceptually, IU and IC both involve the existence of multiple possibilities, and the limits of knowledge. No prior research has studied these constructs together. The current study sought to examine the relationships among IU, IC, and OC symptoms in a nonclinical sample. IC was explored as a potential condition …

Examining Twitter As A Learning Tool On Saudi Female Undergraduate Student Achievement And Attitudes: A Mixed-Methods Study, Hend Bamalan

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Today’s learners commonly belong to a generation that grew up surrounded by using technological devices in classrooms, such as smartphones, laptops, iPads, or other tools – making them digital natives. To meet the nature of digital natives’ learning needs, the focus of educational institutions has been on adapting their instructional practices to align with the new realities. In Saudi Arabia, higher education institutions were encouraged to include more instructional technology to align with the nature of digital natives and improve students’ academic performance and engagement. The use of Twitter as a learning tool in higher education is a new educational …

Turnover Intention Of Women Leaders: The Role Of Leader Identity Development, Haleigh Broucher

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Women’s turnover rate within leadership positions exceed that of men, but the literature fails to outline the specific contexts and antecedents of such gender differences in turnover. Drawing from the leader identity literature, I outline how gender differences in leader identity strength can help illuminate why we see higher turnover intention of women in leadership positions. Given that a strong leader identity has shown to lower turnover intention, I investigate how the leader identity development process unfolds differently for women (compared to men). Leader identity development occurs through the exchange of leader behavior asserting authority (i.e., leader claims) and follower …

Hunting Types In North American Eocene And Oligocene Carnivores And Implications For Nimravid Extinction, Miguel Andres Castellanos

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The late Eocene and Oligocene is traditionally seen as a time of great climactic shift, with open habitats beginning to appear and forests receding. This time period saw both the diversification and subsequent extinction of North American nimravids. The causes of the extinction of this early sabertooth group in the Arikareean remain unclear. One possibility for their decline is that nimravids were competitively disadvantaged in open habitats relative to contemporary, possibly more cursorial caniform predators. Here I analyze and compare the hunting styles of Eocene and Oligocene predators in correlation with their ecological implications via discriminant function analysis of the …

Promoting Cultural Competence Through Clinical Education, Katie Coakley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this dissertation was to explore how clinical education can be leveraged to promote the cultural competence of aspiring clinicians. Cultural competence training is important in addressing health disparities and recommended in health professions education, but barriers exist to its implementation. This dissertation seeks to explore and appraise the literature on cultural competence instruction in rehabilitation education, evaluate the impact of a clinical education experience for speech language pathology (SLP) students on their perceived cultural competence, and assess the outcomes for clients receiving feeding therapy services from supervised SLP students, including the client perceptions of cultural competence …

The Role Of Osaa Gene In Aspergillus Fumigatus Development, Secondary Metabolism And Virulence., Apoorva Dabholkar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Aspergillus fumigatus is the leading cause of aspergillosis, associated with high mortality rates, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. In search of novel genetic targets against aspergillosis, we studied the WOPR transcription factor OsaA. Deletion of the osaA gene resulted in colony growth reduction. Conidiation is also influenced by osaA; both osaA deletion and overexpression resulted in a decrease in spore production. Wild-type expression levels of osaA are necessary for expression of the conidiation regulatory genes brlA, abaA and wetA. In addition, osaA is necessary for normal cell wall integrity. Furthermore, deletion of osaA resulted in a reduction in the ability of …