Digital Commons Network^™

The Federal Reserve’S Fiscal Agent Mandate And The Problem For Central Bank Independence, Lev Menand, Joshua Younger

Faculty Scholarship

The Federal Reserve is among the most powerful organs of government. It is tasked primarily with maintaining the growth of monetary and credit aggregates consistent with long-run maximum employment and price stability. This mandate is widely known and the subject of extensive public debate. But another mandate lies within the statute that is largely overlooked — to serve as fiscal agent of the United States. This distinct responsibility is older, and also important. This Article offers a comprehensive assessment of where the Fed’s two mandates overlap and occasionally sharply conflict: in the market for U.S. government debt. First, it identifies …

Adaptive Evolution Of Gene Regulatory Networks In Mammalian Neocortex, Zhuo Li, Linda J Richards, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Mammals have evolved a more complex brain, exemplified by the transformation of the single-layer dorsal cortex of excitatory projection neurons (ExNs) in ancestors into a multilayered cerebral neocortex

Best Practice: Ct-Guided Adaptive Radiotherapy Reference Planning On The Ethos Platform, Xenia Ray, Joseph Harms, Alex Price, Mu-Han Lin, Dennis N Stanley

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Online adaptive radiotherapy (ART) enables treatment plan modifications based on the patient's anatomy at each fraction, addressing limitations of conventional radiotherapy that relies on a static pre-treatment plan. CT-guided ART (CTgART), as implemented on the Varian Ethos platform, has gained increased clinical adoption over the past several years; however, its success is highly dependent on reference plan design due to limited on-table planning flexibility. As a result, clinicians creating and reviewing reference plans will greatly benefit from both understanding how upstream planning decisions affect the downstream adaptive process and proactively incorporating strategies that improve optimization robustness and efficiency on-treatment. We …

Primary Cilia Regulate Glp-1 Signaling In Pancreatic Β Cells, Isabella Melena, Jeong Hun Jo, Shannon E Townsend, Samantha Adamson Digruccio, Xinhang Dong, Lifei Zhu, Jonathan Campbell, Jing W Hughes

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are mainstay therapies for diabetes and obesity, acting in part by enhancing glucose-dependent insulin secretion. While the primary cilium is a known signaling compartment for certain G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), its role in the β-cell response to incretins remains undefined. Here, we show that primary cilia are essential for full GLP-1R signaling. Loss of β-cell cilia in mouse and human islets severely impaired GLP-1-potentiated insulin secretion, an effect preceded by blunted whole-cell cAMP and Ca

Maga's Blue State Strategy: How Democrats And University Leaders Helped The Reactionary Right Weaponize Antisemitism Against Higher Education, Jonathan Feingold, Isaac Kamola

Faculty Scholarship

The professors are the enemy. Professors are the enemy. Write that on the blackboard 100 times and never forget it.

—President Richard Nixon, 1972¹

[I]f any of us wants to do the things we want to do[,] . . . we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.

—J.D. Vance, 2021²

October 7, 2023 was many things. One of those things was a lucky break for the Heritage Foundation (“Heritage”). For decades, Heritage and its allied think tanks, donors, and officials had labored to discredit and, if possible, take over higher education in the …

Examining Pathogenic Vibrio Abundance And Environmental Controls Across Macroalgae, Sediment, And Oysters, Alexandra H. Geisser, Abigail K. Scro, Roxanna Smolowitz, Robinson W. Fulweiler

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Climate change is accelerating the geographic spread and abundance of pathogenic Vibrio species in coastal waters, posing growing threats to ecosystems and human health. We investigated the abundance and pathogenic gene presence of V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus across three common estuarine substrates (macroalgae, sediment, and oysters) in a temperate estuary. Macroalgae consistently harbored the highest Vibrio counts in conjunction with elevated pathogenic gene frequencies, while oysters contained the lowest. Environmental conditions related to Vibrio abundance were substrate and Vibrio species specific. Temperature and salinity were most closely related to pathogenic Vibrio abundance in oysters. In contrast, pathogenic Vibrio abundance …

Biohybrid Robotic Jellyfish For Swimming-Enhanced Vertical Ocean Profiling, Kelsi M. Rutledge, Sean Colin, John H. Costello, Noa Yoder, Simon R. Anuszczyk, Kelly R. Sutherland, Brad L. Gemmell, John O. Dabiri

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean monitoring is essential for understanding climate change and marine ecosystem dynamics, yet achieving comprehensive global coverage remains a challenge in oceanography. Current technologies face limitations in cost, power, hardware, and depth capacity that restrict widespread monitoring capabilities. Here we show that biohybrid robotic jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) can serve as autonomous vertical ocean profilers by integrating microcontrollers with positively buoyant sensor payloads, achieving controlled vertical-profiling capabilities. Laboratory experiments demonstrated repeatable up–down trajectories, quantified force balance limits, and identified predictable, size-dependent descent swimming speeds. Field deployments in Massachusetts coastal waters and the open ocean off the Florida Keys demonstrated field operation …

Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Access And Patient Diversity, Rachel Cusatis, Ramzi Abboud, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

IMPORTANCE: Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is curative for hematologic cancers, yet access remains inequitable for racially and ethnically underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, making the goal of having a suitable donor for every patient who needs a transplant challenging. The ACCESS trial broadened access by enrolling patients without matched donors, who instead received an HCT from a mismatched unrelated donor.

OBJECTIVE: To compare baseline characteristics of ACCESS trial participants with participants enrolled in a similar clinical trial and a patient-reported outcome (PRO) protocol cohort.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study included adult participants (aged ≥18 years) from 3 …

Preservice Teachers’ Noticing Of Students’ Quantitative And Covariational Reasoning In Dynamic Mathematical Situations, Alfred M. Limbere, Joseph Dinapoli, Steven Greenstein

Department of Mathematics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Understanding rate of change requires reasoning about measurable quantities and how one quantity changes relative to another. To support this kind of reasoning, teachers should develop the ability to notice students’ quantitative and covariational reasoning. This study examines how preservice teachers (PSTs) attend to, interpret, and respond to students’ quantitative and covariational reasoning in video-based analyses of water-filling rate-of-change tasks. Drawing on relevant research, professional noticing is examined through the lenses of quantitative reasoning and covariational reasoning. Using a design-based qualitative approach, secondary PSTs participated in structured analyses of students’ problem-solving discussions related to rate of change. Data were collected …

Enhancing Traffic Safety Through Ai-Driven, Privacy-Preserving, And Secure Impaired Driving Detection Systems, Razan Alsulieman

Dissertations

Drunk driving remains a major threat to road safety worldwide, contributing significantly to traffic injuries and fatalities each year. Traditional detection approaches are largely reactive and vehicle-centric, relying on in-vehicle sensors, breathalyzers, or post-incident enforcement. These methods often depend on driver cooperation, intrusive hardware installations, or limited monitoring environments, restricting their scalability and effectiveness in large transportation systems. At the same time, modern cities increasingly deploy roadside cameras, surveillance networks, and drone- based monitoring systems, creating new opportunities for proactive intoxication detection at the infrastructure level. However, leveraging such external monitoring introduces challenges related to secure data collection, reliable AI-based …

The Impact Of Ai Companions On Family Law, Clare Huntington

Cardozo Law Review

People of all ages and backgrounds regularly use AI companions—virtual friends, lovers, and confidantes powered by artificial intelligence. As a new form of relationship, this development poses novel doctrinal and policy questions for family law. As a doctrinal matter, what does child neglect look like when a parent delegates caretaking to an AI companion? How should standards for elder neglect adapt to the widespread use of robotic caregivers? Should lawmakers impose mandatory reporting requirements on therapy bots if children share experiences of abuse or neglect? And can people designate an AI companion as a health care proxy? As a policy …

Nonmarriage? Rethinking Religious Marriage In Modern States, Shahar Lifshitz

Cardozo Law Review

This Article examines the civil regulation of religious marriage in liberal democracies. While legal scholarship has extensively explored nonmarital intimate relationships, it has paid comparatively little attention to couples who regard themselves as married under religious law without corresponding civil status, as well as couples who remain religiously married following a civil divorce. These arrangements, prevalent among religious minorities such as Orthodox Jews and Muslims, often generate significant legal and personal harms, including exclusion from civil protections, economic vulnerability, and constrained exit from intimate relationships.

This Article develops a structured analytical framework grounded in three liberal perspectives. The individual-rights perspective …

Saying What The Law Might Be? Courts, Geofence Warrants, And The Fourth Amendment Labyrinth, Ciara Lavin

Cardozo Law Review

Since 2016, Google has received thousands of geofence warrant requests from law enforcement, requesting Google to scan through its vast database of users to identify who and what devices entered into, or exited out of, a set of coordinates in a specified period of time. Several cases began making their way through the federal courts to delineate the legality of such warrants—with challenges spanning the vast amount of data they search, their relative accuracy, and whether they comported with the Fourth Amendment. Then, in the summer of 2024, two federal appellate courts handed down decisions just weeks apart: the Fourth …

The Rhythm Of Reform, Michael Waldman

Cardozo Law Review

This year, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our independence. In January 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense. Paine was an immigrant who had arrived only two years before. The pamphlet went viral, a widely bootlegged bestseller with 120,000 copies sold in its first three months in print. It galvanized support for independence and argued that the collection of colonies should become a republic. Paine wrote: “[I]n America THE LAW IS KING.”

Is that still true? We are finding out.

Today our Constitution and the institutions of self-government face extraordinary pressure. In the first two months of 2026 alone, …

The Green Amendment As A Substantive Canon, Blake Zimmerman

Cardozo Law Review

State-level environmental rights amendments, commonly referred to as “Green Amendments,” embody inspired ideals of the environmental conditions owed to all. Their aspirational language—promising a clean and healthful environment for present and future generations—intuits bold action. Nonetheless, when leveraged as a standalone cause of action, the Green Amendment’s ability to exact substantive outcomes has proven less inspired, and jurisprudence in the three Green Amendment states—New York, Pennsylvania, and Montana—reveals several shortcomings. These include that the Green Amendment has been interpreted as providing only procedural rights, the Green Amendment generally does not reach private parties, the Green Amendment’s broad language begets circumspect …

Cycles Of Work And Shelter: Adaptive Architecture For The Rhythms Of Rural Labor, Gabriel Ketcham

Architecture Theses

This thesis explores temporary modular housing as a flexible, context-driven solution for North Dakota’s rural agricultural communities. As a land grant university, North Dakota State University carries a mission to address state needs, yet many small farming towns face growing challenges in providing seasonal and affordable housing for agricultural workers. By examining regional farm labor patterns, harvest seasonality, and construction logistics, this project proposes a modular housing system adaptable to various rural conditions. The design emphasizes mobility, adaptability, and durability, enabling North Dakota’s farming communities to reduce operational costs, minimize worker transportation demands, and lower carbon impacts associated with daily …

Renewal: Connecting The University Campus To Improve Student Success, Micah L. Wood

Architecture Theses

The modern university increasingly faces many challenges such as competition to get and maintain students, relevance in a digital world and beyond. But what if we take a deeper look into how the built environment influences and has potential to improve student success. To do this, we must understand one of the main reasons campuses still exist beyond education, which is community. Most things that can be achieved from a university could be received in a digital format, but human connection is increasingly important. It is important to realize that, through the built environment, we can help empower campus communities. …

Are Anti-Corruption Sanctions The New Fcpa? A Comparison Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, And Sanctions, Karen Peters-Van Essen

Faculty Law Review Articles

With the rise of globalization, international corruption has been linked to a host of economic and social ills, including inter-state conflict.  By 2021, the U.S. government had identified corruption for the first time as a national security threat that required a broader range of inter- and cross- governmental policy tools to address the identified scope of the problem.  This national security focus was reinforced with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which has been seen as being facilitated by corrupt oligarchs.  To be sure, the U.S. had decades prior passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. businesses …

Comparative Fatigue Analysis Of Cf-Pla Metamaterial Bone Plates For Orthopaedic Fixation, Ani Daniel, Hamed Bakhtiari, Barun K. Das, Muhammad Aamir, Majid Tolouei-Rad

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Bone plates are widely used in orthopaedic surgery to stabilise fractured bones and support healing following traumatic injuries or osteotomies. However, conventional metallic bone plates suffer from stress shielding and stiffness mismatch with bone, which can hinder optimal healing. Additive manufacturing enables the incorporation of novel metamaterial architectures into polymer-based implants to enhance mechanical properties. The fatigue behaviour of these implants during the healing period is critical to ensuring their structural integrity and long-term performance. In this study, the compressive fatigue performance of fused deposition modelling (FDM)-printed carbon fibre-reinforced polylactic acid (CF-PLA) bone plates were investigated. Four metamaterial structures—tetrachiral, re-entrant, …

How Employment-Based Clinical Experience During Undergraduate Education Influences Transition To Practice: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Seung A. Park, Marion Eckert, Rebecca Sharp, Belinda Clark, Micah D.J. Peters

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: To synthesize qualitative evidence on the experiences of undergraduate nursing students and new graduate nurses engaged in formal paid employment models or health-related work during their undergraduate studies, to examine how these employment-based clinical experiences influence their transition to nursing practice, and to identify elements that facilitate or hinder this transition. Design: Qualitative systematic review. Methods: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, Emcare (Ovid), CINAHL Complete (EBSCOhost), ERIC (ProQuest), and gray literature sources, including ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Google Scholar. No date or country limits were applied, although only English-language studies were included. The review followed JBI methodology …

Recovery Timeframe Is A Critical Component In Preserving Carbon Stocks In Disturbed Tropical Seagrass Meadows, Taylor Renee Condron, Timothy M. Smith, Paul H. York, Nicholas J. Murray, Pere Masque, Michael A. Rasheed

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Seagrass meadows, though covering a small percentage of the ocean floor, play a critical role in marine carbon sequestration. However, the mechanisms behind this role remain uncertain due to challenges in mapping seagrass extent and flux, accounting for spatial variation in carbon storage, and incorporating site-specific histories. This study investigates the effects of short-term (≤10 years) seagrass loss on sediment carbon stocks within a large seagrass meadow in the Great Barrier Reef region. Using remote sensing data to construct a seagrass recovery timeline, combined with field sampling and assessments of ecological factors, we found higher sediment organic carbon in areas …

Diversification For Stock Markets: Commodities Or Crypto, Mico Apostolov, Simone Domenico Scagnelli, Lorenzo Vasile

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The question that an asset could serve as a good store of value has been brought up a number of times, especially due to major market shocks. Despite the long-held belief that gold serves as a safe haven, a growing body of contemporary literature perpetually assesses this notion. Whether cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin as the most well-known of them, as an asset, can serve as a safe haven or hedge gains traction in research. This study investigates the relationship of gold and Bitcoin to S&P 500 stock index and the possibility that these might serve as a safe haven in respect …

Growing Older Across Time And Space: The Impact Of Various Forms Of Capital On Social Support Networks Among Older Vietnamese Migrants, Hien Thi Nguyen, Lukasz Krzyzowski, Loretta Baldassar

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Much has been written about the important role of social support networks (SSNs) for the well-being of older adults, encompassing their social, emotional and practical needs. Less is known about what happens to the SSNs of older people when they migrate, and even fewer studies have examined the impact of different forms of capital on these networks. Drawing on ethnographic interviews and participant observation with 22 older Vietnamese migrants in Australia (2020–21), this paper explores the influence of different forms of social, cultural, economic and symbolic capital on their SSNs. Data analysis comprised egocentric social network analysis of the connections …

Parenthood And Mental Health Among University Populations In Sub-Saharan Africa: A Cross-Sectional Study, Tuwani A. Rasengane, Ngozika Esther Ezinne, Antor Ndep, Nnamdi John Eseme, Susarah Maria Richter, Kingsley E. Agho, Ebele Gertrude Ejidike, Michael Agyemang Kwarteng, Kelechukwu Enyinnaya Ahaiwe, Nnaemeka Meribe, Obed Adonteng-Kissi, Edith Daniel-Nwosu, Mchillary Ogiemudia Osamudiamen, Ike Onyebuchi Oforbuike, Grace Obumneke Ogbonna, Isaura Ilorena D.Alva Brito Dos Santos, Okechi Ulumma Amaechi, Ugochukwu E. Uzuegbu, Khathutshelo Percy Mashige, Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background and Aims: This study examined the association between parenthood status and psychological well-being among university staff and students in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted across 22 universities in four SSA countries using convenience sampling. A total of 1189 university staff and students, including parents and non-parents, participated. Mental health outcomes were assessed using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21). Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine associations between parenthood status and mental health outcomes after adjusting for sociodemographic and contextual factors. Results: Participants with children had lower odds of moderate depression (adjusted …

Role Of Allied Health Professions In Falls Prevention For Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Scoping Review, Amy Lawton, Nicholas Tripodi, Rebecca Wospil, Breanna M. Wright, Hylton B. Menz, Suzanne Martin, Daniel R. Bonanno, Corey Linton, Andisheh Bastani, Andrew Ross, Rees Thomas, Daniel Corcoran, Timothy Mcnamara, Danielle Baxter, Brett Vaughan, Rebecca Lane, Jack Feehan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective: Falls among community-dwelling older adults are prevalent and have serious individual, societal and economic consequences. Allied health professionals provide key falls prevention interventions yet their representation in current clinical practice guidelines is inconsistent. Increased recognition of allied health roles and delivering context-specific guidelines for falls care could help to address workforce gaps and optimise care approaches. This scoping review explored the roles of the allied health professions in falls prevention screening, assessment and intervention for community-dwelling older adults. Design: Scoping review, using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. Data sources: PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Science …

Medical Simulation In Toxicology: Enhancing Clinical Competence, Decision Making And Patient Care In Resource-Limited Settings, Rakesh Ghimire, Anjana Thapa, Sanjeev Kharel, Shristi Kharel Ghimire, Rabin Basnet, Farshad Mazda Shirazi, Allan J. Hamilton

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Medical simulation has emerged as a transformative approach in toxicology education. By providing immersive, hands-on experience, simulation enhances learner engagement, critical thinking, and long-term knowledge retention while offering a safe environment to practice clinical decision-making without jeopardizing patient safety. Despite these advantages, the integration of simulation-based training remains limited in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to resource constraints, lack of standardized curricula, and limited access to high-fidelity simulators. Additionally, little research has explored its optimal application in these settings. This review explores available evidence regarding the effectiveness of medical simulation in the diagnosis and treatment of toxicological emergencies in LMICs. …

Gender Disparities Among General Surgeons: A Comprehensive Review, Julie Holihan, Devi Bavishi, Kush Brahmbhatt, Rebecca Franks, Zuhair Ali, Karla Bernardi, Christine Castillo, Mike Liang, Rachel Wong, Michele Loor

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Unlike in-house call, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) does not require a postcall day for "home call" shifts. Despite this, we hypothesize that on-call residents are still in the hospital for the majority of their shift despite having the luxury of home call and, thus, are not protected by ACGME postcall duty hour regulations.

Methods: A prospective single center survey study was conducted by surveying junior and senior residents who completed overnight call shifts from January 2023 to April 2023 at one of the busiest level 1 trauma centers in the United States. Data include number …

Intravenous Buprenorphine Reversed Opioid-Induced Respiratory Depression Without Precipitating Withdrawal In Emergency Department Patients, Anthony Spadaro, Nicholas Imperato, Jaclyn Scalgione, Cynthia Santos

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Objective: Buprenorphine is a high-affinity partial agonist that can displace full opioid agonists and could be used to reverse opioid-induced respiratory depression. There is scant evidence to support the use of buprenorphine in an acute opioid overdose to reverse respiratory depression in the era of high fentanyl prevalence in the drug supply. This is a case series of four patients with signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose who showed clinical improvement after receiving intravenous buprenorphine.

Method: A case series of adult emergency department patients treated at a single urban academic medical center was reviewed by the authors, who determined …

A Comparison Of Treadmill Preferred Walking Speed Assessments: Reliability Of Common Protocols And The Novel Treadpws Test, Kirsty A. Mcdonald, Ella Li, John Kerr, Jessica C. Selinger, Kimberley S. Van Schooten

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Human locomotion studies often require participants to self-select a preferred walking speed (PWS), yet there is no consensus or standard protocol for determining this speed. We developed a new protocol to determine PWS (TreadPWS Test). Research question: We compared the TreadPWS Test to three other common protocols in the literature (Dingwell PWS Test, Jordan PWS Test, Dal PWS Test) across a range of reliability and implementation metrics. Methods: Healthy participants (N = 20) attended two sessions within a seven-day period, during which a PWS was determined using each protocol. One test (Dal PWS Test) was conducted overground, and the …

A Generative Ai Method For Minority Class Handling In Anomaly Detection With Drift And Explainability Analysis, Kelvin J. Mwiga, Mussa A. Dida, Ahmad Mohsin, Iqbal H. Sarker

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Artificial Intelligence, particularly machine learning (ML) algorithms, plays a crucial role in detecting cyberattacks, including anomalies and intrusions. However, machine learning models trained on imbalanced cybersecurity datasets often struggle to accurately detect minority data instances and potential threats, thereby weakening overall system security. Despite extensive research, a persistent challenge is the inadequate explanation for model predictions concerning minority data classes. This study aims to address these limitations by developing a generative AI-based approach to manage minority classes in anomaly detection, incorporating concept drift handling and explainability analysis. We introduce an over-sampling technique, CGGReaT, designed to enhance the presence of minority …