Digital Commons Network^™

Revisiting Letters Of Credit And The Enforceability Of Sanctions Clauses: Case Comment: Kuvera Resources Pte Ltd V Jpmorgan Chase Bank, N.A., Bing Feng, Keith Law

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

This article is a case commentary on the recent Singapore Court of Appeal decision of Kuvera Resources Pte Ltd v JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. [2023] 2 SLR 389. It begins with a brief review of the structure of documentary credit transactions before setting out the judgments by the High Court and Court of Appeal. The commentary then examines how both courts rationalised letters of credit within the traditional framework of unilateral contracts, before scrutinising the current position of sanctions clauses within letters of credit. It disagrees with the Court of Appeal’s hesitance towards accepting such clauses, noting that the unilateral …

Ev Battery Next Lives, Asma Aziz, Bassam Al-Hanahi, Daryoush Habibi, Iftekhar Ahmad

Other Reports

As the demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries grows, ensuring the availability of raw materials and addressing the environmental and social impacts of battery production and disposal have become vital concerns. Business models that give batteries a second life – through reuse, repurposing and recycling – can substantially reduce material needs and environmental effects. Over time, these practices may also unlock new domestic value streams, create job opportunities and reduce battery costs. This project is a comprehensive analysis of the end-of-life (EOL) electric vehicle (EV) battery landscape, focusing on circular economy principles and market valuation. It also examines the supply chain …

Exploring The Adoption Of Construction Technologies In Infrastructure Projects: Bridging Perceptions Of Experts With Real Project Data, Fareed Salih, Islam H. El-Adaway

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Infrastructure projects have progressively adopted construction technologies, yet previous studies have not fully explored technology utilization by comparing the perceptions of experts with actual project data. This research fills this knowledge gap. The authors (1) developed, distributed, and collected a survey completed by 52 construction practitioners to investigate the use of these technologies and their associated benefits; (2) checked the survey reliability and validity using Cronbach's alpha test; (3) investigated the perceptions of utilizing construction technologies across industry sectors; (4) explored the perceptions of benefits across industry sectors; (5) analyzed the impact of construction technologies on project objectives and phases …

Realizing Nepa’S Reasonable, Productive, And Enjoyable Harmony: The Fiscal Responsibility Act’S Amendments And Implications For Practitioners, L. Sheldon Clark, Catherine E. Kanatas, Maxwell C. Smith

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the “Magna Carta” of environmental protection, serves two important purposes: providing (1) decision makers and (2) the public with a federal agency’s assessment of the impacts that may occur from its proposed or selected course of action before the agency acts. Despite frequent criticism about NEPA reviews causing costly project delays, NEPA’s procedural requirements and framework had remained unchanged for more than 40 years. That all changed with the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA). The writing on the NEPA wall is now very clear: agencies must now produce shorter NEPA analyses with a …

Noise Law, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The rumble of traffic, the drone of air conditioners, the blast of construction equipment. These are the mundane sources of noise pollution that we all experience but rarely think about. Or, if we do think about noise pollution, we don’t think of it as a central piece of federal environmental law. This Article, however, demonstrates that noise law is, or was, central to American environmental law, and it offers insights into how environmental protection and administrative governance work today.

In the 1970s, during the height of environmental activism and policymaking, lawmakers recognized noise as a serious pollutant alongside issues we …

Reclaiming Interpretation: Psgs, Asylum Law, And The Post-Loper Bright Landscape, Andrew Elkins

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

The Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo marked the end of Chevron deference, reshaping the framework that courts must use when reviewing agency interpretations of statutes. This Note examines the consequences of that doctrinal shift in the context of U.S. asylum law, where statutory ambiguity and agency discretion have long played a central role. Focusing on the “particular social group” (PSG) ground for asylum, this Note argues that Loper Bright requires courts to reclaim primary responsibility for interpreting asylum statutes. It analyzes how Chevron deference previously empowered the Board of Immigration Appeals to issue binding interpretations …

Root Exudates: The Rhizospheric Frontier For Advancing Sustainable Plant Protection, Muhammad Rahil Afzal, Misbah Naz, Youbo Yu, Lisha Yan, Peiyi Wang, Janaki Mohotti, Gefei Hao, Jing-Jiang Zhou, Zhou Chen, Libo Zhang, Qian Wang

Faculty Publications

Root exudates (REs), a diverse array of bioactive metabolites secreted by plant roots in response to environmental stimuli, serve as key mediators of rhizosphere ecology and plant defense responses, offering a promising avenue for sustainable pest management and eco-friendly plant protection. While earlier reviews primarily focus on root exudates in the context of general rhizosphere dynamics and plant-microbial interactions, critical knowledge gaps persist in REs-plant-pest tripartite interactions, the mechanistic basis of REs-mediated plant defense, and their practical integration with integrated pest management (IPM) frameworks. This review provides a synthesis of the latest literature on the biochemical diversity and functions of …

California Public Defense Workloads And Staffing, Malia N. Brink, Pamela R. Metzger, Andrew L.B. Davies, Cynthia G. Lee

Deason Center Reports

This report assesses the current workloads and staffing of California public defense providers. The report concludes that California’s public defense attorneys are almost universally burdened by workloads that far exceed nationally recommended standards. Additionally, compared to district attorneys’ offices in the same jurisdictions, public defender offices typically have 20-45% fewer attorneys.

This report also details how public defense providers in California also lack the appropriate support staff – investigators, social workers, paralegals, and administrative assistants – necessary to efficiently and effectively represent their clients. At their current workload and staffing levels, public defense attorneys simply cannot do all that their …

Reconciling Tenure And Faculty Accountability, Stuart Chinn

West Virginia Law Review

Part of the very identity of the American university is its insulation from society—a crucial contributor, at least in some instances, toward facilitating the search for knowledge and the disruption of established orthodoxies. Yet American higher education does not exist and cannot function separately from societal pressures. This is most obviously true in the context of public institutions that directly rely on state governmental entities for financial support and that may be subject to some mechanisms of control by governmental actors or their appointees. But it is also obviously true in the context of private institutions that may rely on …

Skill Gaming, Pooled Prize Money, And Minor League Professional Tennis, Ryan Rodenberg, Seth Richey

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

N Y State Dent J August-September 2025

The New York State Dental Journal

In the August-September 2025 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• "Subcutaneous Facial Emphysema and Pneumomediastinum Following a Class V Dental Restoration"
• "Beyond Brushing: Can Toothpaste Cure Your Child’s Peanut Allergy?"
• "Gorlin-Goltz Syndrome with Familial Manifestation: A Case Report with Emphasis on Early Diagnosis"

This issue includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New York membership including: editorial and legal columns, association activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

2025 Safety Belt Usage Survey In Kentucky, Erin Lammers-Staats, Derek Young, Kenneth Agent

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

No abstract provided.

Irp Commercial Trailer Data Feasibility Study, Brian Howell, Jennifer Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

This study evaluates the feasibility for developing and maintaining a comprehensive tractor truck trailer database. The commercial motor vehicle (CMV) community currently lacks a cross-jurisdictional, centralized repository for commercial trailers registered in United States and Canadian jurisdictions. Existing federal databases provide information on interstate commercial motor carriers, vehicles, and drivers but exclude trailers. Similarly, IRP and IFTA do not collect trailer-level data, and trailer data is displayed inconsistently across its customer base. Approximately one fifth of violations in Kentucky during inspections from 2020 to 2022 were attributed to trailers, including worn tires, inadequate brakes or improper registration. The rise of …

The Defamation-To-Bankruptcy Pipeline In The United States And Around The World, Christopher D. Hampson

UF Law Faculty Publications

It has never been easier to ‘go viral’. With nothing more than a microphone, a smartphone, and some computer software, an influencer in today’s media landscape can reach millions. But that ease comes with risk: defamation lawsuits are on the rise, sending content creators to bankruptcy courts with judgments that far exceed everything they own. Last year, I analysed this trend in American law, which I call the ‘defamation-to-bankruptcy pipeline’, in Defamation, Bankruptcy & the First Amendment, published in the Journal of Free Speech Law.

Are You The Sum Of Your Data? Appropriation Of Digital Persona As Appropriation Of Likeness, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

A review of Zahra Takhshid's article, Data as Likeness, 112 Geo. L. J. 1161 (2024).

Short–Range Hard–Sphere Potential And Coulomb Interaction: Deser–Trueman Formula For Rydberg States Of Exotic Atomic Systems, Gregory S. Adkins, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In exotic atomic systems with hadronic constituent particles, it is notoriously difficult to estimate the strong-interaction correction to energy levels. It is well known that, due to the strength of the nuclear interaction, the problem cannot be solved using Wigner–Brillouin perturbation theory alone. Recently, high-angular-momentum Rydberg states of exotic atomic systems with hadronic constituents have been identified as promising candidates in the search for new physics in the low-energy sector of the Standard Model. We thus derive a generalized Deser–Trueman formula for the induced energy shift for a general hydrogenic bound state with principal quantum number n and orbital angular …

Constitution Day 2025, Raquel Estrada

Library Display Posters

This three-page poster display for Constitution Day highlights key U.S. Government resources, including the Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation, Ben’s Guide to the U.S. Government, Pocket Constitution, and various Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) Resource Guides.

Battle Of Sects? Iran And Saudi Arabia’S Role Conflict, Babak Rezaeedaryakenari, Özgür Özdamar, Yasemin Akbaba

Political Science Faculty Publications

How do secular and religious national role conceptions (NRCs) influence interstate rivalry? To explore this, we examine the rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two theocratic states. Drawing on scholarship that integrates power politics and religion, we examine how instrumental motivations shape religion-based policymaking. Using semantic network and regression analyses on data from eight official Twitter/X accounts of Iranian and Saudi foreign policy officials (2015–2021), we find that both states’ officials strategically use secular and religious NRCs in response to foreign policy roles adopted by their rival. Our findings underscore the coexistence of these NRCs and their selective application in …

Synthesis Theorization, Gauri Pillai

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

Finding a space for reproductive rights within constitutions that are silent on them has been a perennial challenge. Most common responses fall into one of three categories. First, reading them into the right to privacy (or liberty). Second, and more recently, eschewing privacy and turning to the right to equality. And third, and most comprehensively, adding or combining privacy and equality. I argue that while rights addition avoids the need to choose between privacy and equality in framing reproductive rights, it falls short of capturing the intertwined lived reality of rights infringement. I source from within Indian constitutional law a …

Inter-American Reproductive Autonomy, Rosa Celorio

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“Inter-American Court” or “Court”) has become known for its prolific jurisprudence on women’s rights issues. Even though it took the Court decades to rule its first comprehensive women’s rights judgment in 2009 in González et al. (“Cotton Field”) v. Mexico, it has developed a remarkable body of case law emphasizing five areas in particular: (i) violence, due diligence, and access to justice; (ii) gender-based and intersectional discrimination; (iii) sexual and reproductive rights; (iv) economic, social, and cultural rights; and (v) women who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (“LGBTIQ+”). The Court’s …

Table Of Contents

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Note From The Chief Articles & Symposium Editor, Taeyoon Kong Kim

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Victims In European Criminal Law. An Overview Of What Happens Across The Pond, Gian Marco Caletti

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crime Victims’ Rights In The European Constitutions And The Scale Metaphor: Focus On The Recent Proposal To Amend The Italian Constitution, Matteo L. Mattheudakis

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Victims: Exploring Restorative Justice, Kolis Summerer

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminalizing Intimate Image Abuse: A Comparative Perspective (Gian Marco Caletti And Kolis Summerer, Eds.), Oxford University Press, 2024, Pp. 407, $145.00 (Hardbound), Rachel A. Van Cleave

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Switching Performance Optimization Of Sic Mosfets With Digital Active Gate Drivers, Liyang Du

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have extensive applications in high-power density devices, but they exhibit quick switching transients that are problematic, including electromagnetic interference (EMI), voltage overshoot, and current imbalance between paralleled devices. The purpose of this dissertation is to maximize the switching performance of SiC MOSFETs using digital active gate drivers (AGDs). A three-level gate driving approach is presented to improve current sharing in paralleled SiC MOSFETs through turn-on voltage and gate signal delay adjustment. Closed-loop control with real-time feedback ensures high-reliability operation. For better practicability, a compact AGD structure of a single-path Class-B amplifier-based topology is …

Breaking News Or Breaking Boundaries? The Legal Battle Over Publicity Versus Privacy For Leaked Intimate Content, Olga Gotsis

Hofstra Law Review

The article focuses on the legal tensions between publicity and privacy rights concerning the nonconsensual dissemination of intimate content of public figures, particularly in the digital and social media age. It traces the historical development of privacy law, highlighting the broad application of the newsworthy exception—which allows publication of private information deemed of legitimate public interest—and its expansion to include intimate sexual content of celebrities and influencers. The article discusses the challenges posed by judicial discretion in determining newsworthiness, the problematic inference of implied consent based on a public figure’s openness about sexuality, and the inadequacies of current state revenge …

Exploring The Use And Misuse Of Large Language Models, Hezekiah Paul D. Valdez, Faranak Abri, Jade Webb, Thomas H. Austin

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Language modeling has evolved from simple rule-based systems into complex assistants capable of tackling a multitude of tasks. State-of-the-art large language models (LLMs) are capable of scoring highly on proficiency benchmarks, and as a result have been deployed across industries to increase productivity and convenience. However, the prolific nature of such tools has provided threat actors with the ability to leverage them for attack development. Our paper describes the current state of LLMs, their availability, and their role in benevolent and malicious applications. In addition, we propose how an LLM can be combined with text-to-speech (TTS) voice cloning to create …

Self-Colonization In American Law: The Internet And Personal Information Example, Daniel J.H. Greenwood

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

Since the Reagan era, American economic policy has amounted to self-colonization. Democratic majorities have consistently supported legal regimes that have enabled corporations to extract the lion’s share of the gains from trade from the public. For example, they have supported a corporate law regime that denies the public democratic control over the behavior of corporations and instead gives dictatorial powers to shareholders and managers. The Internet has made it even easier for firms to extract surpluses from consumers through surveillance and algorithmic pricing. One small contribution toward a project of decolonizing the public would be for consumers to obtain a …