Digital Commons Network^™

Choosing Your Judge, Alexander Gouzoules

SMU Law Review

Accounts of American litigation pose a contradiction: forum shopping is acceptable, but judge shopping is not. Formal disfavor toward judge shopping is pervasive, and attempts by parties to manipulate the assignment of their case are deemed abusive and even sanctionable. Nevertheless, sophisticated judge-shopping tactics have proliferated in specific areas of the law—particularly in challenges to executive-branch policies and in the reorganization of large companies under Chapter 11. In these disparate areas of law, judge-shopping strategies have been deployed in high-profile cases, ranging from a challenge to the FDA’s authorization of an abortion drug to the opioid-driven bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma. …

Legal Issues In Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, And Non-Fungible Tokens (Nfts), Christa J. Laser

Nebraska Law Review

When do new technologies require changes in the law? Judge Easterbrook argued in 1996 that there is no more need for a “Law of Cyberspace” than there ever was for a “Law of the Horse.” Rather, existing laws spanning multiple fields are often sufficient to cover niche factual applications and even new technological change. The same is true now for “The Law of Blockchain.” Nonetheless, blockchain marketplace participants lack any cohesive, useful analysis to turn to that is neutral in outcome and performs a comprehensive analysis spanning the multitude of laws affecting the whole ecosystem. We might not need a …

Using Student Experience Reports As A Window For Teacher Reflections On Inquiry Science Instructional Practices, Jessie Nixon, Mimi Recker

Publications

This paper examines how student experience reports, collected as exit tickets, can be leveraged during professional learning to support science teachers’ understanding of their students and inform future classroom practices. Our analysis frames exit ticket data as a boundary object, which bridges across researchers’, teachers’, and students’ perspectives of the learning environment. During two successive professional learning activities, teachers examined and reflected upon their students’ exit ticket data. A thematic analysis of teachers’ discourse during these activities distilled two themes. The first theme surfaced how exit data helped teachers form new views about their students’ emerging science identities; the second …

Low Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, Exercise Dependence, Injury Prevalence, And Fueling Habits In Female Crossfit® Participants, Alyssum Reno-Smith

Dissertations

Disordered eating (DE) is primarily observed in endurance athletes and sports with aesthetics emphases. The prevalence of DE in resistance trained individuals, particularly CrossFit^®, is not well understood. CrossFit® promotes a culture encouraging strong, athletic, or muscular bodies, and both CrossFit® and endurance athletes aim to achieve a low body fat percentage to improve performance. This may lead to body dissatisfaction, exercise dependence (EXD), and/or DE behaviors, which may contribute to Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). This cross-sectional study investigated DE prevalence and relationship with EXD risk, body dissatisfaction, and fueling habits in female CrossFit® only (CO) …

Something For Every Kind Of Learner: Students’ Perceptions Of An Educational Recommender Study Tool, Cherie Noteboom, Alicia Mcnett

Research & Publications

The field of education has the potential to better facilitate student learning by employing educational recommender systems that adapt the learning process to the needs of individual learners. There is a lack of research that ties educational theory to the design and implementation of these systems. In this research, the design science methodology is employed to advocate for an educational recommender framework with a theoretical base in self-regulated learning. This paper focuses on the qualitative evaluation of this approach to gain insights on students’ perceptions of the resulting recommender when deployed to assist students when studying for an upcoming exam. …

Exploring Large Language Models For Ontology Learning, Olga Perera, Jun Liu

Research & Publications

Ontology Learning aims to facilitate automatic or semi-automatic ontology development based on machine learning techniques in context of big data. Recent evolution of technology has introduced Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) capable of creating new data, extracting insights from the existing data, and generating coherent texts from various inputs. This ability supports analysis of text data, providing insights and annotations that reduce human effort. This study explores the emerging field of Generative AI, specifically, Large Language Models for ontology learning. We conducted a survey of the current state of Generative AI research with focus on applicability and efficacy for ontology development …

Critical Success Factors For Bi Systems Implementation And Delivery: A Systematic Literature Review, Badr Harfoush, Omar F. El-Gayar, Noura Mansoura

Research & Publications

Despite the widespread acquisition of business intelligence (BI) systems, their implementation has not always been successful. This study examines the critical success factors (CSFs) that impact the implementation of BI systems in organizations. The systematic literature review follows the guidelines of Kitchenham and Charter’s research that was published in 2007. A total of 93 articles published between 2011 and 2021 were analyzed for CSF related to BI systems implementation and delivery. The study identified 56 CSFs linked to organization empowerment & operations, 52 CSFs related to system implementation, and 28 CSFs associated with user enablement. The study found a paucity …

Factors Influencing Blockchain Implementation In Supply Chain Management: An Exploratory Pilot Study, Aravindh Sekar, Deb Tech, Patti Brooks, Cherie Noteboom

Research & Publications

This study presents findings from a pilot study investigating key factors influencing the successful implementation of blockchain technology in supply chain organizations. Based on data collected from five participants, the pilot study offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics surrounding blockchain implementation. Through semi-structured interviews and grounded theory analysis, the study identifies key factors such as user adoption and acceptance, data integrity and protection, organizational strategy, strategic leadership, training, change management, and a supportive ecosystem. The findings highlight the multifaceted nature of blockchain implementation challenges and underscore the importance of comprehensive strategies for fostering user acceptance, aligning organizational goals, and …

Factors Affecting Users’ Satisfaction With Telehealth Apps: Analysis Of User Reviews Using Bert, Abdullah Wahbeh, Tyler Howes, Omar F. El-Gayar, Raed Seetan, Mohammad Al-Ramahi

Research & Publications

Telehealth mobile apps and telehealth services are increasingly used by patients, particularly, post-COVID-19.This study examines factors related to users’ satisfaction with these apps and services by analyzing reviews from actual telehealth app users. A total of 53,209 reviews were collected from nine telehealth apps on the Google Play store. Using BERT embeddings, UMAP, and HDBSCAN, topics were generated and labeled to identify these factors. Results showed that telehealth app users expressed several factors related to satisfaction with telehealth apps, which could impact the acceptability and adoption of such apps. These include usability (ease of use), usefulness, convenience and efficiency, cost …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Interpretability Of Lda And Llm For Topic Modeling: The Case Of Healthcare Apps, Omar El-Gayar, Mohammad Al-Ramahi, Abdullah Wahbeh, Tareq Nasralah, Ahmed Elnoshokaty

Research & Publications

This study compares the interpretability of the topics resulting from three topic modeling techniques, namely, LDA, BERTopic, and RoBERTa. Using a case study of three healthcare apps (MyChart, Replika, and Teladoc), we collected 39,999, 52,255, and 27,462 reviews from each app, respectively. Topics were generated for each app using the three topic models and labels were assigned to the resulting topics. Comparative qualitative analysis showed that BERTopic, RoBERTa, and LDA have relatively similar performance in terms of the final list of resulting topics concerning human interpretability. The LDA topic model achieved the highest rate of assigning labels to topics, but …

Political Economy Analysis Of The Dissemination And Use Of Seasonal Weather Forecasts And Services In Zimbabwe, Joseph Manzvera, Kwabena Asomanin Anaman

All Grantees Publications

Weather and climate services are essential tools that help farmers make informed choices, such as choosing appropriate crop varieties. These services depend considerably on the availability of adequate investments in infrastructure related to weather forecasting, which are often provided by the State in most countries. Zimbabwean farmers generally have limited access to modern weather and climate services. While extensive attempts have been made to investigate farmers’ socioeconomic factors that influence access to and use of weather and climate services, comparative political economy analysis of weather and climate service production and use is limited. To address this knowledge gap, this study …

Evaluation Of The Awareness Of Electromagnetic Compatibility And Interference For Improved Medical Device Management Observed In Selected Rwanda District Hospitals, Chiedza Hwata Mtecha, Omar Gatera, Omar Gatera,, Ritsch Nicola, Therese Meng, Rushingabigwi Gerard, Twizere Celestin, Mukalinyigira Didacienne, Thomas Bolaji, Nsengiyera Daniel

All Grantees Publications

Accuracy and reliability of medical device measurements are essential for high-quality healthcare delivery. Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is 1 of the conditions that can be monitored when managing electronic and wireless medical devices in hospitals. Noncompliance with EMC can lead to electromagnetic interference (EMI), risking catastrophic failures, especially in vital sign devices such as defibrillators and pacemakers, and potentially irreversible harm to patients’ health. This study assessed the knowledge of biomedical engineers and technicians regarding EMC and EMI in hospital devices and their effects. It also examines how hospitals manage biomedical equipment and the frequency of wireless communication usage. This study …

Book-And-Claim System For Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Christine Kranich, Sarah J. Haas

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

This Article provides an overview of the regulatory (legal) framework in which the decarbonisation of aviation is embedded, with a focus on European law. The Article further provides updates on EU-ETS, CORISA, RED III and the minimum quota of SAF supply in accordance with Refuel EU Aviation up to October 2023. Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) will be described in detail in this Article, and it is further explained that the use of SAF could significantly contribute to aviation becoming “greener”. As the availability of SAF is still rather scarce, the Article revolves around a mechanism of a global book-and-claim system …

Patterns In The Tapestry: A Typology Of Collective Giving Groups, Dorothy A. Johnson Center For Philanthropy At Grand Valley State University, Philanthropy Together, Isis Krause, Michael D. Layton

Research, Reports, and Publications

The collective giving movement has seen remarkable growth across the U.S. in recent years, both in participation and impact. Between 2017 and 2023, nearly 4,000 collective giving groups engaged over 370,000 members, mobilizing $3.1 billion to support various causes (Loson-Ceballos & Layton, 2024, p. 1). These figures underscore the scale and scope of this dynamic movement. While all collective giving groups share a commitment to democratic processes for mobilizing and allocating resources for social impact, their structures, composition, and practices vary widely. By understanding and appreciating these differences, we can better grasp how collective giving is transforming philanthropy and driving …

App-Based Data Collection To Characterize Latent Transportation Demand Within Marginalized And Underserved Populations, Noelle L. Fields, Courtney Cronley, Stephen Mattingly, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, David Levine, Nithisha Gudipati, Cristine Highfill, Mary Kris Stringfelllow, Anna O'Dell, Rebecca Cole, Melody Huslage

TREC Final Reports

Our interdisciplinary team refined an app prototype, MyAmble, to gather data related to quantity of transportation disadvantage and latent demand, and to identify psycho-social-economic corollaries. MyAmble utilizes a traditional travel diary format but expands the type of trips measured to include 1) completed trips, 2) missed trips, and 3) latent travel demand. The app also measures the real-time perceived impact of transportation behaviors (realized and latent) on participants’ physical health, mental health, social engagement, and employment/academics. Finally, the app has a text-messaging feature, Travel Buddy, that is used to increase participant engagement and retention over longitudinal data collection. The project …

Non-Fungible Tokens (Nfts) And Copyright Law, Ochoa, Tyler T.

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

The concept of using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to facilitate and authenticate sales of digital art dates back to 2014; but it took several years before the concept really captured public attention. Since copyright law governs the reproduction of works of art, including digital images, the connection to NFTs seems obvious. Yet, copyright law is only tangentially related to NFTs, for two reasons. First, buying an NFT does not, by itself, convey any rights to reproduce or display the work associated with that token. Instead, those rights are governed entirely by the contract that accompanies the sale. Second, minting and selling …

Analysis Of Global Data Privacy Regulations And How Transnational Companies Are Impacted, Fujimori-Smith, Aska

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

Privacy regulations are being developed and altered globally. An American company working transnationally will want to make sure to comply with the privacy regulations of each country in which the company either conducts business or otherwise utilizes that country’s citizens’ data. Currently, the GDPR has the strictest standards regarding data processing agreements between a primary organization and another data processor. While the CCPA/CPRA and the PDPA require DPAs, a company in compliance with the GDPR will likely comply with the CCPA/CPRA and the PDPA. Case law is evolving to address the extent of the reach of the extraterritorial legislation. However, …

Relying On Unreliable Tech: Unchecked Police Use Of Algorithmic Technologies, Fraerman, Ali

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

In the past two decades, police forces have come to rely on algorithm-based technologies for investigative leads. Several of these technologies are unreliable. They are prone to error, misidentifying suspects, and crimes. When relied upon, they lead to false arrests and unnecessary stop-and-frisks. Yet, there is no coercive mechanism, either regulatory or judicial, that meaningfully governs the use of these algorithmic technologies in law enforcement. As a result, law enforcement agencies are free to disregard potential errors and deploy emerging technologies against communities with little recourse.

This Article looks closely at three technologies—ShotSpotter gunshot detection, facial recognition technology, and rapid …

Human Reproductive Cloning, Heritable Genome Editing, And The Future Of Novel Reproductive Technologies, Macintosh, Kerry Lynn

Santa Clara High Technology Law Journal

This Article compares human reproductive cloning (HRC) and heritable genome editing (HGE) to identify factors that encourage bans on novel reproductive technologies. HRC drew legislative opposition in part because it involved asexual reproduction and was incorrectly associated with copying. HGE and other technologies that involve sexual reproduction do not have those problematic qualities. HRC also became entangled with research in which human embryos were cloned to be harvested for their stem cells. HGE did not because scientists learned how to create and edit pluripotent stem cells without creating embryos. However, the legal history of HRC predicts that reproductive technologies strongly …

New Family Law Statutes In 2023: Selected State Legislation, Family Law Quarterly 2023–24 Editors, New York Law School

Redefining Family Law: State Legislative Updates

This article provides summaries and context for 31 changes to family law that were enacted in 2023 by legislatures in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The topics include (1) Child Custody and Visitation, (2) Nonparent Custody and Visitation, (3) Children’s Representation, (4) Child Welfare, (5) Child Support, (6) Domestic Violence, (7) Companion Animals, (8) Age of Marriage, and (9) Other Topics. More specifically, the topics of the laws featured in this article include (among others) presumptions of 50-50 parenting time; virtual visitation; enhancement of children’s voices in child protective proceedings; pets and property division; and strengthened domestic violence …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2024-2025, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2024-2025 undergraduate and graduate course catalog. Course catalogs are published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

A Constellation In Training, Marko C. Capoferri

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Capoferri, Marko, M.F.A., Fall 2023 Creative Writing - Poetry

Light, Loneliness, and Location

Chairperson: Sean Hill

In many better-known works by the 20^th century painter Edward Hopper, I find a locus of visual concerns that overlay the fixations of the majority—if not all—of the poems that comprise my thesis, what I like to think of as the three L’s: light, loneliness, and location (to which I could also add, as secondary colors, longing and landscape). Additionally, there are what Mark Strand identifies as “two imperatives” in Hopper’s work, “the one that urges us to continue and the other that …

Artificial Intelligence- Driven Fvm-Ann Model For Entropy Analysis Of Mhd Natural Bioconvection In Nanofluid-Filled Porous Cavities, N. Elsedais, M. A. Mansour, A. M. Aly, Sara Abdelsalam

Basic Science Engineering

No abstract provided.

Synthesis Ago Nanoparticles By Nd:Yag Laser With Different Pulse Energies, Munaf S. Majeed, Shaymaa M. Mahmoud Mahmoud, Raghad Majeed Rasheed, Alaa Adnan Rashad

Baghdad Science Journal

One technique used to prepare nanoparticles material is Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL), Silver Oxide nanoparticles (AgO) were prepared by using this technique, where silver target was submerged in ultra-pure water (UPW) at room temperature after that Nd:Yag laser which characteristics by 1064 nm wavelength, Q-switched, and 6ns pulse duration was used to irradiated silver target. This preparation method was used to study the effects of laser irradiation on Nanoparticles synthesized by used varying laser pulse energy 1000 mJ, 500 mJ, and 100 mJ, with 500 pulses each time on the particle size. Nanoparticles are characterized using XRD, SEM, …

Water Treatment Using Zinc Nanoparticles And Apricot Plant Extracts From Organic And Inorganic Pollution, Suzan Muslim Abdullah, Abbas Ali Salih Al-Hamdani, Labeeb Ahmed Al-Zubaidi

Baghdad Science Journal

The apricot plant was washed, dried, and powdered after harvesting to produce a fine powder that was used in water treatment. created an alcoholic extract from the apricot plant using ethanol, which was then analysed using GC-MS, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy to identify the active components. Zinc nanoparticles were created using an alcoholic extract. FTIR, UV-Vis, SEM, EDX, and TEM are used to characterize zinc nanoparticles. Using a continuous processing procedure, zinc nanoparticles with apricot extract and powder were employed to clean polluted water. Firstly, 2 g of zinc nanoparticles were used with 20 ml of polluted …

Surface Modification Of The Improved Stainless Steel Alloy Aisi-304 And The Use Of Diffusion Coating And A Study Of Its Efficiency In Resistivity Hot Corrosion In An Atmosphere Of Sodium Chloride Vapor Nacl And Sodium Sulfate Na2so4, Taha Mahmoud Khudair, Mahmood Ahmed Hamood

Baghdad Science Journal

This research aims to modify the components of stainless steel alloy by the method of surface engineering through the single diffusion coating technique in order to obtain new alloys with high efficiency in resisting harsh environmental conditions. Steam a mixture of sodium chloride (NaCl) and sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) at a temperature of 900 and then compare it with the base alloy. The results showed that the alloys produced in this way are very efficient. The results showed that the aluminum coating showed high efficiency in resisting oxidation and provided better protection for a longer time compared to the uncoated alloy …

Artificial Neural Network And Latent Semantic Analysis For Adverse Drug Reaction Detection, Ahmed Adil Nafea, Nazlia Omar, Zohaa Mubarak Al-Qfail

Baghdad Science Journal

Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are important information for verifying the view of the patient on a particular drug. Regular user comments and reviews have been considered during the data collection process to extract ADR mentions, when the user reported a side effect after taking a specific medication. In the literature, most researchers focused on machine learning techniques to detect ADR. These methods train the classification model using annotated medical review data. Yet, there are still many challenging issues that face ADR extraction, especially the accuracy of detection. The main aim of this study is to propose LSA with ANN classifiers …

Technoference In Parenting And Impacts On Parent–Child Relationships And Child Development, Brandon T. Mcdaniel Phd, Lisa Linder, Mariek M.P. Vanden Abeele, Alison K. Ventura, Sarah M. Coyne, Rachel Barr

Health Services and Informatics Research

“Technoference” is a term that describes how parent media use (e.g., phone use) can interfere with parent–child relationships and interactions. Research has shown technoference effects on parents and children ranging in age from infancy to adolescence, such as decreased parent responsiveness and adverse child behavioral outcomes. However, potential benefits of parent media use have also been identified, such as media use to cope with stress, stay connected, increase breastfeeding perseverance, and seek parenting information. Technoference has only been researched for about a decade, and there are large research gaps. We propose a research agenda to parse out long-term or cumulative …

Daily Smartphone Use Predicts Parent Depressive Symptoms, But Parents' Perceptions Of Responsiveness To Their Child Moderate This Effect., Brandon T. Mcdaniel Phd, Sabrina Uva, Jessica Pater, Victor P. Cornet Ms, Michelle Drouin Phd, Jenny Radesky

Health Services and Informatics Research

INTRODUCTION: Smartphone use during caregiving has become increasingly common, especially around infants and very young children, and this use around young children has been linked with lower quality and quantity of parent-child interaction, with potential implications for child behavior, and parent-child attachment. To understand drivers and consequences of parent phone use, we were interested in the daily associations between parent phone use and depressed mood, as well as the potential for parent perceptions of their responsiveness toward their infant to alter the association between parent phone use and mood.

METHODS: In the present study, we explored associations between day-to-day changes …

Heavy Users, Mobile Gamers, And Social Networkers: Patterns Of Objective Smartphone Use In Parents Of Infants And Associations With Parent Depression, Sleep, Parenting, And Problematic Phone Use., Brandon T. Mcdaniel Phd, Jenny Radesky, Jessica Pater, Adam M Galovan, Annalise Harrison, Victor P. Cornet Ms, Lauren Reining, Alexandria Schaller, Michelle Drouin

Health Services and Informatics Research

Smartphone use during parenting is common, which may lead to distraction (also known as technoference). However, it is likely that some phone activities are less disruptive to parents and children. In this study, we explored smartphone use (via passive sensing across 8 days) within 264 parents of infants, measuring parents' application use on their phone (e.g., messaging, social media, mobile gaming, video chat) and phone use across contexts (e.g., during feeding and at bedtime). We utilized latent profile analysis to identify profiles of users, revealing five user types: