Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Dna Methylation On Both H2a.Z Nucleosome Dynamics And The Zinc Finger And Homeoboxes Transcription Factor Family, Rochelle M. Shih

Student Theses and Dissertations

DNA methylation represents a widespread and heritable modification that exerts substantial influence on chromatin organization and function in many eukaryotic genomes. The presence of DNA methylation has been strongly linked to transcriptional regulation, in both activating as well as repressive ways, though exactly how a small chemical mark can enact such drastic and seemingly opposing effects on gene expression remains an open question. In my thesis work, I describe the influence DNA methylation has on two classes of chromatin proteins, the histone variant H2A.Z and the Zinc Finger and Homeoboxes (ZHX) family of transcription factors. DNA methylation and H2A.Z preferentially …

Structural And Functional Studies Of The Sars-Cov-2 Niran Domain, Gabriel I. Small

Student Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic was a dramatically disruptive event, wreaking devastation across the globe and radically impacting nearly every facet of human life. For the first time, a significant amount of global money and attention was directed at coronavirus (CoV) research, propelling the field to the forefront of biomedical research. This allowed for the rapid development of a suite of vaccines and antivirals targeting SARS-CoV-2 that aided in ameliorating the effects of the pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 was the third CoV zoonosis of the 21st century and is now endemic. Global understanding of the threats posed by CoVs circulating among animals in the …

Is A Tridentine Paradigm, And Our Dependence On A Hierarchical Logic Of Priesthood, Driving Our Responses To Scarcity, Joseph Grayland

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Influence Of The Solar Cycle And Interplanetary Shocks On Turbulence At 1 Au, Sujan Prasad Gautam

Dissertations

This thesis studies the effect of the solar cycle and interplanetary shocks on turbulent fluctuations at 1 AU. We examine the solar cycle dependence of turbulence cascade rates corresponding to the total turbulence energy using the methodology developed by Adhikari et al. that utilizes a Kolmogorov phenomenology. Turbulence cascade rates are derived using 25 years (1995–2020) of Wind spacecraft plasma and magnetic-field observations. We find that the total turbulence energy cascade rate changes with the solar cycle, such that the cascade rate is largest during solar maximum and smallest during solar minimum. It is positively correlated with the solar wind …

Repainting The Republic: How Color Changes The Reception Of Roman Honorific Portraiture, Madelyn Fisher

Classics Honors Papers

Most people commonly imagine gleaming, unpainted, white marble under the lights of a museum gallery. However, Roman sculpture was far from how we commonly view it today; the Roman world was full of painted statues. How and why was Roman portraiture stripped of its color? This thesis discusses the development and use of Roman honorific portraiture over the course of the Republic, and the existence of polychromy within the Greco-Roman world. Furthermore, this paper also explores how color was erased from the historical narrative and argues that the understanding of Roman sculpture as polychromatic must be reincorporated back into the …

Confronting Inequality: Three Eras Of Gender And Tax Scholarship, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Tax law is not neutral--it encodes social values and reinforces certain longstanding hierarchies. For over fifty years, legal scholarship at the intersection of gender and tax has exposed how seemingly neutral tax laws perpetuate gender inequality. This Article uses the metaphor of quilting to trace the evolution of this scholarly field across three distinct eras.   Part I names and defines the designing era (1971-1986), which began with Grace Blumberg's writing on the gendered impact of tax laws on marriage, labor, and caregiving; she framed taxation as a tool of social control over women. Blumberg's work laid the foundation for other …

Operational Agency: A Permeable Legal Fiction For Tracing Culpability In Ai Systems, Anirban Mukherjee, Hannah H. Chang

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems act with a high degree of independence yet lack legal personhood—a paradox that fractures doctrines grounded in human-centric notions of mens rea and actus reus. This Article introduces Operational Agency (OA)—a permeable legal fiction structured as an ex post evidentiary framework—and Operational Agency Graph (OAG)—a tool for mapping causal interactions among human actors, organizations, and AI systems. OA evaluates an AI’s observable operational characteristics: its goal-directedness (as a proxy for intent), predictive processing (as a proxy for foresight), and safety architecture (as a proxy for standard of care). OAG operationalizes that analysis by embedding these …

Suing The Ghost In The Medical Machine, Jason R. Cheek

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Devices that autonomously diagnose medical conditions, with no human interaction, have arrived. These self-operating systems incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), and include machines that diagnose preventable blindness, as well as some that write radiology reports. These devices feature AI-integrated software to make diagnosis decisions traditionally made by humans who have received extensive medical training. Soon, AI-driven devices will autonomously make treatment decisions.

What happens when these autonomous medical systems harm a patient? At the moment, most would expect product liability law to provide a path to recovery. But AI oftentimes uses multiple complex inputs and approaches, including statistical probabilities, to reach …

Ultrasound-Guided Vs Conventional Intraarticular Injection Of Hyaluronic Acid For Management Of Temporomandibular Joint Internal Derangement: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Muhanad Almufarrih, Muhammad Al-Hawari, Ayman Yaseen, Sally Abdelsameaa

Mansoura Journal of Dentistry

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of using ultrasound guidance during intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid (HA) in the management of patients with TMJ internal derangement. Material/subjects and Methods: Forty patients complaining of anterior disc displacement with reduction (DDwR) not responsive to conservative treatment were enrolled in this study. The diagnosis was based on the current update of diagnostic criteria for temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Intra-articular injection of Hyaluronic Acid guided by Ultrasound in the first group and Intra-articular Injection (IAI) of HA conventional way in the second group were performed. Articular pain was evaluated using the visual …

Survival Rate And Prognostic Criteria In Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients: A Retrospective Analysis, Shihab Ahmed Jassim, Shadi Awny Hasan, Mohamed Mahmoud Anees, Jilan Mohamed Youssef

Mansoura Journal of Dentistry

Objective:

To evaluate overall survival, disease-free survival (DFS), and associated prognostic factors among patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) treated at a tertiary oncology center in Egypt.

Materials/Subjects and Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Surgical Oncology Department, Oncology Center, Mansoura University, Egypt. Medical records of patients with histopathologically confirmed primary OSCC diagnosed between January 2011 and December 2021 were reviewed. A total of 140 eligible patients were included. Data collected included demographic characteristics, selected medical history, tumor site, tumor size, TNM stage, histological grade, treatment modality, and follow-up status. Data were entered, managed, and analyzed …

Priority Treatment Of Fraud Claims In Bankruptcy, John P. Hunt

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy’S Blind Spot: An Examination Of How The System Turns Its Back On Mentally Ill Debtors, Ashley Deady

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

No abstract provided.

Fresh Start Or False Promise? Addressing Black Student Loan Debt Through Bankruptcy, Adji Ostin

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

No abstract provided.

Pouvoirs Incontrôlés: Talleyrand And The Xyz Affair's Impact Upon Chief Justice John Marshall's Jurisprudence And The Pursuit Of International Consistency In The Schooner Exchange V. Mcfaddon, Christian Ketter

California Western International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mythcon 54 - Get Your Fantasy Kicks On Route 66!, The Mythopoeic Society

Mythcon Programs

Theme: Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66

As part of the Route 66 centennial events that will be occurring across Oklahoma throughout 2026, Mythcon 54, a three-day conference, will add literary discussions to the festivities with the theme Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66that encourages attendees to register for conference and to join us in discussions of fantasy literature that include:

• urban or epic fantasy about the adventures of travels on the road
• fantasy literature from or inspired by native American oral, written, or historic traditions
• the MythSoc archive, located on Route 66, and the role of …

The Prohibition Of Force Is The First Principle Of International Humanitarian Law, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Saint Louis University Law Journal

With the end of the Cold War, United States presidents have shown growing disinterest in complying with the United Nations Charter prohibition on the use of force. Their legal advisers have based justifications for resort to military force on ever thinner legal grounds to the point that justifications appear to focus only on the legal principles governing the conduct of military force, not on the right to resort to force in the first instance. Samuel Moyn captured the phenomenon in his book, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War. The phenomenon of decline has not stopped with …

The Invalidity Of The “Shock The Conscience” Test For Evidence Gathered By Foreign Police, Kevin Valleroy

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Federal courts since the 1970s have often discussed the “shock the conscience” test in the context of transnational criminal investigations. This test purports to exclude from American trials evidence gathered by foreign police through “conscience shocking” methods. No doubt its creators sought to protect the rights of defendants amidst unclear evidentiary standards. But since the test’s creation, its proponents have failed to agree on a consistent explanation for the test’s constitutionality. Moreover, Supreme Court precedent since the 1980s has heaped doubt on the prevailing explanations for the test’s existence. While a lively debate on the “shock the conscience” test’s underlying …

Foreword

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Farewell To Space Arms Control, Eytan Tepper, James B. Romano

Saint Louis University Law Journal

This paper examines the nearly seven decades of attempts to adopt multilateral rules restricting space arms race and limit military uses of outer space. The paper presents the early success to introduce, as part of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, basic key limitations, notably a ban on weapons of mass destruction and offensive military uses of celestial bodies, and the subsequent failure to expand these basic rules. Indeed, despite forty-five years since the early 1980s of work in various streams and frameworks attempting to prevent a space arms race, and despite many countries’ proclamations supporting space arms control, no meaningful …

Recalibrating The Threshold Of Niac? Aggregated Intensity And The Risk Of Over-Classification, Nathan Derejko

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The proliferation of armed groups poses significant factual and legal challenges to determining the threshold of Non-International Armed Conflict (“NIAC”). In response, a number of academics and practitioners have proposed a “cumulative” approach, under which the intensity of violence generated by multiple armed groups within a defined geographical and temporal context is assessed in the aggregate. This “aggregated intensity” approach departs from the established bilateral, case-by-case methodology inherent in the established Tadić test for NIAC. This paper offers a critical analysis of the “aggregated intensity” approach and its relevance to contemporary determinations of the threshold of NIAC.

From Classroom To Closing Table: Strategies For Teaching Transactional Drafting And Preparing Law Students For Practice And The Nextgen Bar Exam, Keisa M. Johnson Monroe

Saint Louis University Law Journal

Undoubtedly, at the end of each semester on the final evening of my Transactional Drafting course, a student approaches me to share feedback and reflections on the class. Their feedback often ranges from expressions of surprise—”This class was actually more enjoyable than I expected”—to reconsiderations of their initial intentions—”I’m going to be a trial lawyer, so I wasn’t even going to take this class, but I’m so glad I did!”—to newly discovered interests—”I think I’m actually interested in pursuing a career as a transactional lawyer now.” These student reflections are helpful as they offer valuable insights as I am constantly …

Breaking The Huddle: Judicial Deference, Antitrust, And The Ncaas Path Forward, Zeke Stockton

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The University of Tennessee Men’s Basketball team entered Week Ten of the 2024–25 college basketball season ranked number one in the country. The Southeastern Conference’s leading scorer going into Tennessee’s game against Texas that week was Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier. On the first play of the second half, Lanier launched a pass into Tennessee’s bench instead of taking an open jump shot. Rick Barnes, Tennessee’s head coach and one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history, immediately took Lanier out of the game. Barnes said in the post-game press conference, “[t]hat play was designed for that shot. I told him, …

Good Transactional Drafting Isn’T Just About The Nuts And Bolts, Joan E. Neal, Michelle M. Drake

Saint Louis University Law Journal

To create practice-ready transactional lawyers who can be valuable and valued advisors to their future clients, teaching technical nuts-and-bolts drafting is critical but not sufficient. Rather, transactional drafting professors need to embed other important lessons into the content for their students, including emphasizing the importance of forming a forward-looking or planning mindset and developing their students’ ethical awareness. To do this, these lessons and mindsets should be a part of the debriefs of all drafting exercises, so that the professor can model these ways of thinking when discussing drafting decisions. These additional lessons are particularly important because students may have …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Me Note

Saint Louis University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture: Immigration And The Supreme Court In The Early Days Of The Second Trump Administration, Kevin R. Johnson

Saint Louis University Law Journal

An enduring St. Louis University School of Law tradition, the Childress Memorial Lecture is devoted to “highlighting a provocative and timely area of law.” Discussion of immigration law and its enforcement by the Trump administration falls squarely into the category of provocative and timely. My lecture today analyzes the Supreme Court’s responses to the Trump administration’s immigration actions in the early months of his second term. Those responses no doubt provide an idea about the Court’s future responses to the administration’s immigration actions.

Immigration has been a divisive, often explosive political issue throughout U.S. history. The law as it has …

Cruel Deference: State Narratives, Credibility, And Power In Convention Against Torture Adjudications, Amelia S. Mcgowan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

U.S. courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) have long treated the U.S. Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices as uniquely authoritative sources for determining country conditions in claims for immigration protection. In its 2025 precedential opinion Matter of A-A-R-, the BIA extended this deference to claims for protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). This decision and others like it raise the question: whose voice matters most when evaluating the likelihood that an applicant faces torture, and why?

This Article critically examines the evolution of the Country Reports’ authoritative role in U.S. protection …

The Odyssey Of Third Country Removal, Matthew Boaz

Saint Louis University Law Journal

In February 2025, a hotel in Panama became a focal point for international media when a group of several hundred asylum seekers from countries such as Iran, Turkey, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka were suddenly sent there from the U.S. without legal recourse or notice of their destination. The majority of the migrants agreed to repatriation to their home countries, but a significant number remain, seeking to navigate an asylum system that seems intent on denying relief, with few other options available. A short time later, a similar cohort arrived in Costa Rica with an eerily familiar tale to tell. …

Sanctuary Standoff: Constitutional Fault Lines In Immigration Enforcement, Cindy G. Buys

Saint Louis University Law Journal

During both its first and second terms, the Trump Administration has taken aim at so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions to try to encourage or force cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement. In addition to targeted immigration enforcement efforts, the Administration has waged a legal and public media campaign against states, counties, and cities that the Administration views as sanctuary jurisdictions and has attempted to withhold a wide variety of federal funds from those jurisdictions to pressure them to change their policies. While there is no definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction in any federal statute or executive order, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) …

Eliminating Prior Pay: Reframing The Equal Pay Act's "Factor Other Than Sex" In Federal Employment, Jack Weilmuenster

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The federal government is the largest employer in the United States, with over 1.5 million General Schedule (“GS”) employees working across various agencies. Under the federal pay system, salaries are determined by the GS, a structured scale that assigns employees to grades and steps based on qualifications and experience. However, agencies may rely on prior salary when setting pay, a practice that risks perpetuating gender-based wage disparities. Given the federal government’s influence on broader employment practices, whether prior pay qualifies as a “factor other than sex” under the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”) is a question with far-reaching implications.