Digital Commons Network^™

Is The Women's Treaty A Paper Tiger? Indian Courts' Application Of The United Nations Treaty, Amanda Stephens

University of Memphis Law Review

This Article examines whether the United Nations (“U.N.”) Treaty, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (“CEDAW”), is a “paper tiger”—a law that seems powerful but is in fact weak and ineffectual. While some scholars question the Treaty’s effectiveness based on statistical studies, others point to legal reforms in state parties as evidence of its success. Neither provides a nuanced middle ground by examining the CEDAW at a micro rather than a macro level. This Article fills this gap by conducting a qualitative analysis of 10 Indian judicial opinions. Specifically, the Article explores how the …

Full Faith, Credit, And Collision: Examining The Jurisdicitional Reach Of Extraterritorial Abortion Laws, Remy A. Carreiro

University of Memphis Law Review

In 2021, Texas made headlines when it passed antiabortion law Senate Bill 8 (“SB 8”). Although Roe was still the law of the land, SB 8 banned most abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy, long before many people know they are pregnant. The ensuing uproar primarily centered on the law’s unique ability to maneuver outside the reach of courts. Because SB 8 outsourced its enforcement authority exclusively to citizens, it effectively circumvented judicial review by eliminating valid targets for a pre-enforcement suit. Many were justifiably concerned that the law created a playbook for state legislatures to nullify other …

W(H)Ither Regulation? Hither To The Tax System, Tracey M. Roberts

Pace Environmental Law Review

In a series of cases decided in the last three years, four delivered in 2024 alone, the U.S. Supreme Court has directed a withering gaze toward the federal administrative state. In West Virginia v. EPA, the Court both curtailed Executive Branch regulatory authority and mandated that Congress draft with greater statutory clarity and specificity under their recently developed major questions doctrine. Under Ohio v. EPA, the Court placed on administrative agencies the burden of extraordinary vigilance in addressing comments as part of the regulatory promulgation process. In Loper Bright v. Raimondo, the Court overturned Natural Resource Defense Council v. Chevron, …

Determination Of Steroid Hormones And ⍺-Zeranol In Beef Products In East Tennessee, W. Colby Huffman, S. Ellie Jaynes, Nathan C. Duncan, D. Andrew Crain

RURALS: Review of Undergraduate Research in Agricultural and Life Sciences

Hormone growth implants are commonly used in cattle to increase growth and there is some concern that these implants may result in altered hormone concentrations in the beef from implanted cattle. This study aims to (1) develop a simple, standard, cost-effective method to measure hormones in beef and (2) compare hormones in meat from cattle not exposed to growth implants (negative controls), cattle exposed to growth implants (positive controls), and from a commercial retail store. Extraction and measurement using LCMS/MS was successful in detecting 17b-estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and a-zeranol in meat, with a trend to lower concentrations in meat not …

Unmasking Injustice In Tumultuous Times: Protest Art And Student Agency In A Summer Program, Indira Bailey

International Journal of Lifelong Learning in Art Education

In today’s political climate, academic freedom is increasingly threatened, and topics that challenge dominant narratives are often censored. Art education faces growing pressure to thoughtfully integrate these critical issues into its curriculum. This paper explores a five-day summer social justice art workshop at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Using a social justice art education framework, the workshop engaged undergraduate students, including non-art majors, in social justice research through creative expression and protest art making. The author argues that non-visual art students can create impactful visual counter-narratives that confront oppression while engaging deeply with both creative processes and social …

November 2025, Office Of Research

Research Update

No abstract provided.

Immunological Surveillance Against Cancer Across Mammals, Orsolya Vincze, Piotr Minias, Alexandre Corthay, Fernando Colchero, Jean-François Lemaître, Louise Maille, Tamás Malkócs, Justus Hagemann, Dalia A. Conde, Samuel Pavard, Antoine M. Dujon, Beata Ujvari, Frédéric Thomas, Amy M. Boddy, Carlo C. Maley, Damien Chevallier, Tuul Sepp, Thomas Pradeu, Mathieu Giraudeau

Presidential Fellows Articles and Research

Contrary to expectations based on their higher cell numbers, larger and longer-lived species do not face dramatically increased risk of cancer. This strongly suggests that evolution has fashioned natural cancer resistance mechanisms, yet our knowledge remains limited on what these mechanisms might be. The cancer immunological surveillance hypothesis, proposed by Burnet and Thomas in the 1950s, highlights immunity as a key factor determining species-specific cancer resistance. Here we address the original, evolutionary interpretation of this hypothesis by investigating the relationship between cancer mortality risk and markers of efficient antigen presentation. Our results show that the expansion of the MHC class …

Dissecting The Efficacy And Immunogenicity Of Tlr7 Agonist–Antibody Conjugates Through The Lens Of Fc Effector Function, Conjugation Strategies, And Linker Cleavability, Siteng Fang, Samantha R. Benjamin, Lina Wu, Mohammad Asikur Rahman, Kayla K. Elder, Victor T. Ojo, Tao Zhang, Tracy A. Brooks, L. Nathan Tumey

Pharmacy Faculty Scholarship

The advent of immuno-oncology therapeutics has given rise to antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) designed to selectively activate pattern recognition receptors such as Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs). In contrast to classical ADC technology, these Immune Stimulating Antibody Conjugates (ISACs) are widely reported to rely on Fcγ-mediated uptake and noncleavable linkers. Herein, we systematically study the impact of Fc effector function, linker cleavability, and conjugation strategy on the efficacy and immunogenicity of a series of TLR7 agonist-based ISACs. We demonstrate that the combination of FcγR-ablation and incorporation of a cleavable linker results in increased stimulation of myeloid cells, enhanced efficacy, and improved tolerability as …

A Detailed Investigation Into Word-Order In The Modification Of Pronouns, Kelli Hesseltine, Joseph C. M. Davis

Publications and Research

This study builds upon Hesseltine and Davis ([2020]. “The Communicative Function of Adjective-Noun Order in English.” WORD 66 (3): 166–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2020.1793499), which examines word order in modification in English and proposes the Assertion of Characterization hypothesis. To communicate an assertion of an entity’s traits, speakers employ two different meanings: weaker, signaled by the order AB as in long (A) hair (B), and stronger, signaled by BA as in hair (B) long (A). The attribution of the characterization is thus made less or more assertively. This work focuses on examples where the characterized entity, the B, is a form traditionally …

A Silver Spoon Effect Reduces Lifetime Fitness In A Declining Loon Population, Walter H. Piper, Claudia Kodsuntie, Hayden Walkush

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A complete understanding of factors that influence animal fitness requires that we measure not only those occurring day to day in the life of an animal but also those that operate on longer time scales. Here, we investigated silver spoon effects (fitness impacts resulting from conditions faced early in life) and carryover effects (fitness impacts caused by environmental factors in a previous season) in a northern Wisconsin population of the common loon (Gavia immer). The mass of a loon chick divided by its age, an indication of food it received from its parents in its first 4 to …

The Effect Of Noise Pollution On The Diversity And Abundance Of Bird Species At Different Locations At Warner Parks, Nashville, Tn, Jeremy T. Little, Wyatt L. Fooks, Darlene Panvini, Jackson Whiteside

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Noise pollution is a significant abiotic factor that can alter bird biodiversity and abundance of birds in urbanized areas. A new road is proposed through a relatively untouched area of Warner Parks in Nashville, TN, which may affect the bird community. Acoustic Song Meters were used to monitor bird sounds and soundscapes in the proposed road site and two areas of the park with different levels of noise pollution (roadside=high noise; isolated=low noise) for three weeks. Recordings were analyzed to determine bird species and abundance at each site to predict how increasing noise pollution may affect bird diversity in the …

Bibbidi-Bobbidi No Boo-Boo Pulse-Oximeter: A Child-Friendly Prototype To Improve The Pediatric Experience, Holly Dickens

2025

INNOVATION & LEADERSHIP

Background: This prototype design project addresses the critical need to enhance pediatric patient comfort by reimagining common medical equipment to be child-friendly. A significant gap exists in pediatric device development, as most tools are repurposed from adult models and fail to consider the unique psychological, emotional, and developmental needs of children (Espinoza et al., 2020). Devices such as pulse oximeters, though essential in monitoring oxygenation and widely regarded as the “fifth vital sign” (Al-Beltagi et al., 2024), often cause distress for young patients. Traditional models feature intimidating adult-centric aesthetics, bright red sensor lights, and sticky wraps …

Next Word Prediction In Social Media Texts For Punjabi-English Bilingual Users With Sequential Cnn-Bilstm, Gurpreet Singh, C P Kamboj

Baghdad Science Journal

Preparing a collection of Punjabi-English social media text and creating a next word prediction system for Punjabi users are the main goals of this study. As the Gurmukhi script has a large character set, typing in Punjabi takes a lot of time. That is the reason behind using the Roman script for communication on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter by many Punjabi users. For such users, we have proposed a sequential CNN-BiLSTM architecture to provide suggestions to improve typing speed and make communication convenient. In our proposed model, we used 128 filters and a kernel size of …

Red Snapper (Lutjanus Campechanus) Neurocranium, Gabriella K. Flora, David W. Kerstetter

All Scans: Kerstetter Fisheries and Avian Ecology 3D Scan Series

No abstract provided.

Guiding The Story World: A Comparison Of Diegetic Cues In A Snow White Vr Narrative Game, Jiayi Xu

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Virtual reality (VR) narrative games must guide players through complex story worlds without undermining immersion, yet prior work rarely compares different forms of in-world guidance under tightly controlled conditions. Designers routinely mix diegetic text, character behavior, and environmental motion, but it remains unclear how these cue families differentially shape cognitive load, task performance, and narrative experience when they convey the same instruction.

This thesis investigates how three common diegetic cue types—diegetic text, non-verbal gestures from a non-player character, and environmental motion and highlights—affect players in a first-person VR retelling of the Snow White story. In a between-subjects laboratory study, each …

Investigating The Mechanisms Of Microbial Interactions Using A Model Cystic Fibrosis Polymicrobial Community, Bassam El Hafi

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Cystic fibrosis (CF) airway microbial communities are complex ecosystems where interspecies interactions influence pathogen survival and disease progression. We leverage a CF-relevant in vitro four-species model composed of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Prevotella melaninogenica, alongside a microbiome dataset with over 4,000 respiratory samples from publicly available sequencing data of CF patient samples, to explore the dynamics of microbial interactions in CF. On a broader scale, we performed microbial network analysis to examine how the latest modulator therapy, elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor (ETI), might influence CF microbial communities. Our analysis revealed a reduction in node connections and …

Vested Property Rights: Examining The Louisiana Supreme Court's Approach To Substantive Due Process In Bienvenu V. Defendant 1, William Voitier

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

When Laws Leave You Hanging: Negotiorum Gestio Steps In For Self V. Bpx Operating Company, Melisse Speligene

Louisiana Law Review

No abstract provided.

The National Landscape On Wellness Culture And Well-Being Best Practices In Healthcare Systems And Academic Institutions: Results From The Fourth National Summit On Promoting Clinician Well-Being, Megan Amaya, Bernadette Mazurek-Melnyk, Josh Winn, Jeff Messinger

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: The health of our nation’s healthcare workforce continues to decline. A comprehensive, whole-system, evidence-based approach is key to a successful wellness initiative and is the foundation for culture change. Building a culture of wellness leads to better mental health outcomes, healthier lifestyle behaviors, higher levels of engagement and job satisfaction, improved patient satisfaction and employee retention, and a positive return (ROI) and value on investment (VOI).

Methods: The purpose of this cross-sectional, descriptive, anonymous survey was to assess the organizational wellness culture of participants who attended the National Summit on Promoting Well-being and Resilience in Healthcare Professionals. …

Transformer Network On Global Self-Attention Mechanism For Brain Tumor Segmentation, Ammar Awni Abbas Baghdadi, Mohammed Al-Mukhtar, Ammar S Al-Zubaidi

Baghdad Science Journal

Transformers are a specific category of neural network design. Transformers often depend on extensive pre-training on a large scale and exhibit a notable degree of computational complexity. The disadvantage of using this method is a significant increase in computational complexity, which necessitates a significant commitment of time and computing resources in order to successfully work with these models. Transformer networks possess the desirable benefit of extracting distant characteristics effectively via their self-attention mechanism. In this paper, the Global Self-Attention Transformer module is applied to tackle these issues. The model is based on a segmentation problem called Brain-GS that works as …

Live-Cell Quantitative Monitoring Reveals Distinct, High-Affinity Gβγ Regulations Of Girk2 And Girk1/2 Channels, Reem Handklo-Jamal, Tal Keren Raifman, Boris Shalomov, Patrick Hofer, Uri Kahanovitch, Theres Friesacher, Galit Tabak, Vladimir Tsemakhovich, Haritha P Reddy, Orna Chomsky-Hecht, Debi Ranjan Tripathy, Kerstin Zuhlke, Carmen W Dessauer, Enno Klussmann, Yoni Haitin, Joel A Hirsch, Anna Stary-Weinzinger, Daniel Yakubovich, Nathan Dascal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Gi/o protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) inhibit cardiac and neuronal excitability via G protein-activated K+ channels (GIRK), assembled by combinations of GIRK1 - GIRK4 subunits. GIRKs are activated by direct binding of the Gβγ dimer of inhibitory Gi/o proteins. However, key aspects of this textbook signaling pathway remain debated. Recent studies suggested no Gi/o-GIRK pre-coupling and low (>250 µM) Gβγ-GIRK interaction affinity, contradicting earlier sub-µM estimates and implying low signaling efficiency. We show that Gγ prenylation, which mediates Gβγ membrane attachment required for GIRK activation, also contributes to the Gβγ-GIRK interaction, explaining the poor affinity obtained with non-prenylated Gβγ. Using quantitative …

Modified Artificial Neural Networks In Stochastic Differential Equations To Estimate The Occurrence Rate Of A New Process For Software Reliability Growth Modelling, Adel Sufyan Hussain, Zedan Zubair Mashikhin, Noora Taha Abduirazzaq

Baghdad Science Journal

This paper aims to utilize modified artificial neural networks under stochastic differential equations to improve the estimation of occurrence rates on models towards the growth of software reliability through such models. There has never been a time when reliable assessment methods have been more important as software systems grow ever more sophisticated. This study covers the risks arising from software bugs, security weaknesses, and the need to meet legal requirements. The authors use a new method that combines artificial intelligence techniques with classical reliability models to achieve their goal of a more efficient computational tool for predicting software reliability. It …

Serum Levels Of Uchl1 And S100b In Covid-19 And Multiple Sclerosis Patients: A Comparative Study In Erbil City, Krg, Iraq, Daldar Fares Jeejo, Mayada Noori Iqbal, Nisreen Sherif Alyasiri

Baghdad Science Journal

Ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) and S100B are proteins involved in neuronal development and damage. Their levels in serum have been proposed as potential biomarkers for various neurological conditions, including COVID-19 and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The study aimed to compare serum levels of UCHL1 and S100B among COVID-19 patients, MS patients, and healthy controls, and to assess the correlation between these biomarkers in the context of COVID-19. This cross-sectional study included 91 COVID-19 patients, 29 MS patients, and 50 healthy controls from the Kurdistan Region (KRG) of Iraq. Serum levels of UCHL1 and S100B were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay …

Efficient Face Mask Recognition Model Based On Deep Learning And Multi-Machine Learning Classifiers, Hassenien Ali Hussein, Firas Muneam Bachay, Saffa Jasim Mosa, Mohammed Hasan Abdulameer

Baghdad Science Journal

Safety in chemical and biological laboratories requires face masks. Nevertheless, the masked face images present obstacles to accommodate the wide pose variations, low resolution, changes in size and incomplete cropping, and varying emotive expressions, making feature extraction and recognition robust difficult. To decern between faces with proper, improper, and no facemask, Deep Learning (the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)) and classifiers such as SoftMax, Support Vector Machines (SVM) and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) were used. The methodology utilized the 2075 AR face images that contain various resolutions, orientations, and occlusions. The paper develops a Deep Learning-based model utilizing CNNs and …

On Iterative Method For The Solution Of Non-Linear Equations Using Anti-Lobatto Four Point Quadrature Rule, Tusar Singh, Dwiti Krushna Behera

Baghdad Science Journal

By harnessing the classic anti-Lobatto four-point quadrature rule of degree of precision three, the order of convergence of the Newton-Raphson method has been profoundly enhanced. This newly developed iterative scheme reveals a remarkable order of convergence, reaching three and far surpassing the original Newton-Raphson method. It operates as a two-step iterative method that elevates Newton’s approach by integrating the quadrature rule. A theorem related to this innovative iterative method has been formulated, confirming that its order of convergence is indeed three. In the numerical computation section, insightful scenarios demonstrate the remarkable numerical efficiency of the new method. Through the power …

Forecasting Big Data Daily Silver Price Based On Hybridizing Support Vector Regression And Meta-Heuristic Algorithms, Ibtihal Muneeb Yahya, Zakariya Yahya Algamal

Baghdad Science Journal

Because commodities are prone to large price swings, forecasting their prices can be extremely difficult. Similar to other commodities, the price of silver is determined by a complicated interplay between a number of factors, including time-lag. Precise forecasting of the silver price is essential for the stable and effective functioning of silver markets. The time series that metal prices follow is non-stationary, nonlinear, and contains periods that fluctuate due to possible growth. Accurate forecasting of silver prices is difficult since they are consistently highly nonlinear and non-stationary. Forecasting metal prices, in general, have been predicted by support vector regression (SVR). …

Optimizing Artificial Neural Networks For Smart Grid Stability Analysis Using Tabu Search-Based Hyperparameter Tuning, Salwa Khalid Abdulateef, Armaneesa Naaman Hasoon, Moceheb Lazam Shuwandy

Baghdad Science Journal

Smart grids are supposed to make electricity networks more reliable, yet in practice their behavior can be surprisingly unstable when the load changes too quickly. During this work, we tried to understand that instability and to build a model that predicts when a grid remains stable or begins to drift. We used an Artificial Neural Network and tuned it with a Tabu Search routine that keeps adjusting the number of neurons and the activation functions until the results stop improving. It was not a single run; several training attempts were needed before the model settled. After applying the Tabu optimization, …

Enhancing Secrecy Rate For Cognitive Radio Based On 5g Communication Systems, Mohammed Kadim Shaybeth Al-Jorani, Hakem Beitollahi

Baghdad Science Journal

The non-orthogonal multiple accesses (NOMA) together with Cognitive radio network (CRN) are critical frameworks in the 5G remote transmission framework. Nonetheless, the framework is an outstanding method for the cognitive clients to get a telecommunication from the interference signals in different info numerous yield (MIMO)- NOMA-relied cognitive radio network. For here project, a modern beamforming strategy is introduced for getting a data trade inside similar units as well as adjoining units about every tempering client. The intervention is brought about through a blemished range detecting of the optional clients (SUs). The SUs is expected to get to the essential communication …

Advanced Deep Neural Network Architectures For 3d Gait Assessment From Video In The Early Detection Of Alzheimers Disease, Abhishek Singh Kushwaha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This thesis presents an advanced deep learning framework for markerless 3D gait assessment using monocular video, aimed at the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recognizing gait abnormalities as potential preclinical biomarkers, the study leverages video-based human pose estimation to derive detailed spatiotemporal gait parameters without the need for specialized laboratory equipment. The proposed system adapts the MeTRAbs (Metric-Scale Truncation-Robust Heatmaps for Absolute 3D Human Pose Estimation) architecture to reconstruct metric-scale 3D human joint coordinates from RGB video recordings. A complete processing pipeline is developed to extract stride length, cadence, stance and swing phases, and gait variability, validated against the …

Naphthalimide-Based Type-I Nano-Photosensitizers For Enhanced Antitumor Photodynamic Therapy: H2s Synergistically Regulates Pet And Self-Assembly, Huiyu Niu, Songnan Wang, Yang Liu, Nana Ma, Shuaiwei Cheng, Beidou Feng, Hyunsun Jeong, Yonggang Yang, Ge Wang, Tony D James, Juyoung Yoon, Jonathan L Sessler, Hua Zhang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) relies on a combination of light and photosensitizers (PSs) to achieve local control over cancerous lesions. However, it is subject to limitations, including tumor hypoxia, low tumor targeting, off‐target phototoxicity, and always‐on fluorescence. Here, we propose a design strategy for activated nano‐PSs (N‐PSs) to simultaneously overcome the limitations of PDT, wherein photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) is coupled with an endogenous H2S‐regulated self‐association process to promote Type‐I photochemical reactions. Using theoretical calculations, spectral analysis, and microscopic imaging, we verified the generation of self‐assembly and occurrence of PeT. And it was also shown that H2S could synergistically inhibit the …