Digital Commons Network^™

Identifiable To Whom? Clarifying Biometric Privacy Rights In Illinois And Beyond, Hana Ferrero

University of Chicago Law Review

Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is the country’s most powerful law governing biometric data—data generated from an individual’s biological characteristics, like fingerprints and voiceprints. Over the past decade, BIPA garnered a reputation as an exceptionally plaintiff-friendly statute. But from 2023 to 2024, the Illinois legislature, Illinois Supreme Court, and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals all sided with BIPA defendants, largely for the first time. Most significantly, in Zellmer v. Meta Platforms, Inc., the Ninth Circuit dismissed the plaintiff’s BIPA claim because the face scan collected by the defendant could not be used to identify him.

It is unclear whether …

Policing In The Age Of Criminal Records, Eisha Jain

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Making Of A Juvenile Record: The Insidious Consequences Of Criminalizing Race, Adolescence, Disability, And Trauma, Kristin N. Henning, Rebba D. Omer

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Desegregating Criminal Codes, Root And Branch: The Duty Not To Enforce Unconstitutional Laws, Gabriel J. Chin

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mechanisms For Oxygen Vacancy Defect Migration In Srtio3/Nio Heterostructures, Anish Rajesh More

Theses

Perovskite-based oxide heterostructures display promising properties resulting from interface phenomena, making them good candidates for next-generation solid oxide fuel cell electrolytes. Amongst the different features exhibited by these interfaces, misfit dislocations play an important role in influencing ionic transport, yet their role remains poorly understood, which is the case in rock salt-perovskite interfaces too. In SrTiO3/NiO heterostructures, to comprehend interface ionic transport, we investigate oxygen vacancy migration near misfit dislocations. To this end, we developed a high-throughput framework that integrates atomistic simulations with nudged elastic band method to predict migration energy barriers across disparate interface atomic environments. By comprehensively mapping …

Do People Judge Sexual Harassment Differently Based On The Type Of Job A Victim Has?, Carolyne Georgiana Halfon, Destiny Mccray, Danica Kulibert

Faculty Articles

Victims of sexual harassment report facing barriers and retaliation for reporting their sexual harassment. The current study assessed one potential reason for these issues: perceptions of sexual harassment events. Participants (N = 427) read about different sexual harassment events and were told that the woman in the event worked with a masculine (e.g., EMT, school police officer, plumber) or feminine job (e.g., nurse, teacher, cleaning staff). Across three different sexual harassment claims (e.g., unwanted romantic attention, physical groping, being shown sexually explicit images), participants reported that women in masculine jobs were less prototypical women than women in feminine jobs. Furthermore, …

Nato Self-Defense – Is Article 5 The Right Framework For Responding To Sub-Kinetic Cyber Aggression?, Shreyas Kumar, Gary D. Brown, Srividhya Ragavan, Maddalena Cerrato, Gourav Nagar

Faculty Scholarship

Cyber aggression presents a significant challenge to traditional frameworks of collective defense, particularly under Article 5 of the NATO Washington Treaty, which obligates member states to respond collectively to an "armed attack." While NATO has acknowledged that cyber incidents may trigger Article 5, ambiguity persists over what constitutes a cyber "armed attack," especially in the absence of kinetic effects. This uncertainty complicates NATO’s ability to address increasingly prevalent sub-kinetic cyber threats, such as economic disruption, data manipulation, and interference in democratic processes. Unlike conventional military threats, cyber operations often fall below the traditional threshold of armed conflict while still exerting …

Ai For Good: Expanding Legal Services For Immigrants, Huyen Pham, Bryan Garcia

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, we explore the possibilities for putting AI technology in the hands of clients themselves, considering the advantages and disadvantages. Thinking about the specific context of immigration law, we could envision apps that help individuals to prepare for interviews for affirmative asylum, visas, or naturalization; to educate them about their rights in ways that are more specific, timely, and convenient than current know-your-rights formats; or, in a more attorney-adjacent interaction, using an app to conduct the initial intake interview and organize that information, making the usual time-consuming intake process more efficient and effective. We are not envisioning apps …

Facial Recognition Ai, Margaret Hu

Faculty Publications

The integration of algorithmic decisionmaking and artificial intelligence (“AI”) into facial recognition technology poses new, unprecedented risks to privacy and individual autonomy rights, particularly in urban settings. The murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York City on December 4, 2024, provides a timely case study to examine the deployment of facial recognition systems by the New York Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to identify the suspect. New York City deploys some of the most sophisticated surveillance architecture in the nation, put into place following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This Article explores the …

Water Flowing Down Wall Street, Vanessa Casado-Pérez

Faculty Scholarship

Water scarcity is a perennial problem with dire consequences for the United States and governments around the world. A lack of adequate water resources is a systematic cause of environmental harm, economic damage, and societal division. Climate change has exacerbated these problems making water even more valuable and essential.

Financial actors have turned water into the new oil. These large financial actors profiteer from buying and selling water without any interest in its actual use as an input of production. Instead, they typically seek to hold these rights until dire situations, like droughts and fires, cause temporary, but large, spikes …

The Complex Interplay Between Intellectual Property And The Right To Science, Peter K. Yu

Faculty Scholarship

In April 2020, the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights released General Comment No. 25, which provides an authoritative interpretation of the right to science—a right that has hitherto not received much attention. In light of this publication and the recent celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this article examines the complex interplay between intellectual property and the right to science, with a view toward the human rights challenges brought about by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrival of generative AI.

The article begins by documenting the historical evolution of the …

Heritage In Search Of A Home: Archiving The Learning Designs And Artistry Of Instructional Television Of The 1970s And 1980s, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This chapter tells intertwined stories of the rescue and preservation of two archival collections of instructional (classroom) television programs and attendant materials from the ITV new wave of the 1970s and 1980s. A.I.T., the Agency for Instructional Television/Technology created innovative programming combining instructional design and media artistry, all focused on learners. The ability, afforded by these collections, to address key lacunae in the history could have significant implications for the design of learning media in its current forms of interactive media and video games for learning as well as the development of the next evolution of learning media and technology.

The Past, Present, And Future Of Proxy Voting Choice, Dorothy S. Lund

Faculty Scholarship

This article provides an early attempt at understanding what voluntary pass-through voting could mean for the marketplace. I first provide an overview of my argument in my 2018 Journal of Corporation Law article and the events that followed. I then survey passthrough voting initiatives that have taken hold at three asset managers — BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street. I then conclude with some preliminary observations about how voting choice is likely to affect the proxy voting landscape and outline open questions.

Competence-Competence, Delegation, And The Aaa/Icdr Rules, Christopher R. Drahozal, George A. Bermann, Jack J. Coe Jr., Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

In 2021 and 2022, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) amended their arbitration rules to address a “potential controversy” said to be caused by the Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration. The “potential controversy” is over whether the rules providing that arbitrators have “the power to rule on [their] own jurisdiction” should be interpreted as delegation clauses — that is, as “clearly and unmistakably” delegating exclusive authority to resolve jurisdictional challenges to the arbitrators instead of the court. Most courts have so interpreted the rules.

By contrast, the …

Bile Acid Regulation Of Xenobiotic Nuclear Receptors On The Expressions Of Orosomucoids In The Liver, Ji Ho Suh, Inyoung Cheon, Hyun-Jung Jung, Sung Ho Lee, Mi Jeong Heo, Matthew Deberge, Clavia Ruth Wooton-Kee, Kang Ho Kim

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are xenobiotic nuclear receptors activated by various xenobiotics, drugs, hormones, and bile acids (BAs). Upon activation, these nuclear receptors play critical roles in regulating systemic energy homeostasis. However, precise mechanisms through which CAR and PXR influence systemic metabolism remain incompletely understood. Here, we investigated the impact of CAR and PXR on the liver-secreted hormone (i.e., hepatokine) expressions in response to BA stress such as cholic acid (CA) feeding. Our analysis revealed that several BA-activated genes, including the well-known CAR/PXR target, aldo-keto reductase family 1, member B7 (Akr1b7 …

Unwarranted Warrants?: An Empirical Analysis Of Judicial Review In Search And Seizure, Brett James Hashimoto, Miguel F.P. De Figueiredo, Dane Thorley

Faculty Publications

Every year, police perform searches governed by the Fourth Amendment on hundreds of thousands of individuals and their property throughout the United States. Many of the academy’s most decorated scholars have focused on the genesis and jurisprudential nature of the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. Surprisingly, we know almost nothing about how the Fourth Amendment regulates searches and how searches actually work in practice.

In this Article, we pull back the curtain on the search and seizure process by presenting the largest quantitative study of warrants of any kind. We analyze over 33,000 warrant applications filed through Utah’s “e-Warrants” system over …

Thailand V. Katanyu Muenkhamruang “Pan”, Andrew Khoo, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

The criminal proceedings against Ms. Katanyu Muenkhamruang (“Pan”), a 27-year-old Thai student and pro-democracy activist, violated international fair trial standards and Thailand’s human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Pan was convicted under Thailand’s sedition law and the Computer-Related Crimes Act for Facebook posts promoting peaceful anti-government protests in 2021. The trial revealed numerous due process violations, including violation of the presumption of innocence, reliance on unsubstantiated claims, and a lack of reasoned judgment. Despite the absence of direct evidence linking Pan to the alleged posts, the court inferred guilt, and arbitrarily disregarded exculpatory …

Exploring Early Childhood Development Programming In Kenya’S Arid And Semi-Arid Lands, Phyllis Magoma, Amina Abubakar, Martha Kaniala, Barack Aoko, Moses Wesala, Joyce Marangu, Susan Nyamanya, Margaret Kabue, Anil Khamis, Esther Chongwo

Institute for Human Development, East Africa

Background: Promoting high-quality early childhood development (ECD) is vital for individuals’ physical and social well-being and yields significant societal returns. However, children in marginalised regions like Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) face significant barriers to accessing quality ECD services.

Aim: This study aimed to document existing ECD services in Kenya’s ASAL areas, including their availability, types and key characteristics; identify gaps in their provision and propose solutions to enhance access and quality. Setting: This qualitative study was conducted in 10 ASAL counties in Kenya.

Methods: Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, 103 key informants, including pre-primary …

Research Into Job Classifications For Kentucky Department Of Vehicle Regulation Employees, Mallory Brown, Andrew Martin, Jeeyen Koo, Jennifer Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation (DVR) faces persistent challenges with employee recruitment, retention, and workforce alignment due to outdated job classifications and compensation structures. This study investigates if DVR’s reliance on the general Administrative Specialist job series is warranted given the duties performed by its staff. Through a job task analysis, financial modeling, and personnel data review, researchers assessed the feasibility of introducing a new DVR-specific job series based on the Vehicle Regulation Specialist (VRS) position currently being used by the Division of Motor Carriers. The proposed VRS series includes two levels — VRS I (Grade 13) and VRS …

Dreamvisions+: Virtualizing Medieval Poetics In Multimedia Performance, Mac Waters

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

DreamVisions+ is a transdigital and transhistorical odyssey into the realm of fiction and truth, reality and virtuality. Rooted in the tradition of late medieval dream-vision poems—wherein religious or political allegories unfold through dreaming protagonists—DreamVisions+ stages a multimedia dream vision of the digital age, reading medieval dream visions as proto–virtual reality. Through the creation and analysis of DreamVisions+, a full-length solo multimedia performance, I synthesize live electroacoustic music, XR technologies, and 3D game environments with medieval textual and visual iconography to construct a porous, unstable dream world that collapses medieval and digital imaginaries.

Situating my work within broader political …

A Bad Apple: Supreme Court Of Georgia Delivers Loss To Educators Holding It Is Constitutional For Tenured Georgia Educators To Lose Tenure When Public Schools Convert To Charter Schools, Brantley B. Swindell

Mercer Law Review

The Supreme Court of Georgia dealt a major blow to educators in existing charter school systems with tenure rights earned under the Fair Dismissal Act (FDA) after 1993. The court’s decision in Woods v. Barnes meant a big win for existing charter school systems and public school systems that intend to convert to charter systems. In Woods, a public school teacher and the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE) sought enforcement of tenure rights afforded by the Fair Dismissal Act in a charter school system that was previously a public school system. These rights included notice of the reasons for …

Being Independent Together: Georgia Adopts Eleventh Circuit’S Two-Step Analysis In Cases Involving The Independent Source Doctrine, Madison Shaw

Mercer Law Review

The exclusionary rule is a judicially created sanction applied by the Supreme Court of the United States to effectuate the intent of the protections provided by the Fourth Amendment. This rule aims to deter police misconduct by presenting a sanction barring the prosecution from presenting evidence obtained through a Fourth Amendment violation. Despite this honorable intention, however, the rule’s exceptions have arguably eroded the protections it seeks to provide. One such exception is the independent source doctrine. Tatum v. State is one of the most recent decisions by the Supreme Court of Georgia in which the court considered applying this …

Nebraska's Lgbtqia2s+ Laws And Politicians Timeline, Claire Du Laney Dunker, Haleigh Diltz

Pride and Joy: Nebraska History

Note: This is a zine.

The legal system in the United States has a long history of discrimination towards the LGBTQIA2S+ community. This was no different in Nebraska. Beginning in the seventies and continuing today, people have been advocating for protections for the LGBTQ+ community and electing representatives of the community to office.

While there have been setbacks, there has also been considerable progress in these goals. This timeline is by no means a comprehensive list of the policies, people, and officials that impacted the LGBTQ+ community in Nebraska.

Pride And Joy: Nebraska History (Banners), Claire Du Laney Dunker, Haleigh Diltz

Pride and Joy: Nebraska History

Banners for the "Pride and Joy: Nebraska History" exhibit that explores the history of LGBTQIA2S+ communities throughout the state of Nebraska. LGBTQ+ individual and community histories are an important part of Nebraska and the nation. This traveling exhibit seeks to share evidence of community gatherings, activism, publications, organizations, and other important topics.

This history is more complex than can be expressed in a single exhibit. Communities continue to experience joy and sorrow, community engagement and turmoil, resilience and discrimination. This is not an exhaustive LGBTQIA2S+ history. At this time, no one has written that comprehensive history. There are more stories …

Quantifying Return On Controls In Llm Cybersecurity, Richard Helder Moulton

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

As large language models are increasingly deployed in real world systems, concerns about their security have grown. While these models demonstrate impressive fluency and utility, they are also susceptible to a variety of attacks, including prompt injection, data leakage, and adversarial manipulation. These vulnerabilities pose serious risks in high stakes environments where privacy, reliability, and trust are essential. Despite emerging efforts to document and mitigate such issues, a gap remains in the ability to systematically measure the effectiveness of proposed defenses in a quantifiable and reproducible manner.

This research addresses the question: how can security vulnerabilities in language model based …

Assessment Of Autonomic Nervous System Functions In Patients With Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy: An Electrodiagnostic Study, Raghda Nidal Hathal, Farqad Bader Hamdan, Akram M. Al-Mahdawi

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Background and Objective: Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is a chronic immune-mediated neuropathy predominantly affecting the peripheral nervous system including the nerve roots. The objectives of this study were to assess autonomic dysfunction in patients with CIDP using electrodiagnostic techniques and to examine its relationship with clinical and demographic characteristics, COMPASS-31 scores, and the Hughes disability scale.

Methods: This case–control observational study included 25 patients with CIDP and 26 age- and sex-matched healthy controls and was conducted at the Neurophysiology Unit of Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Baghdad from February to November, 2024. All participants underwent autonomic function assessment, including Ewing’s cardiovascular …

Retraction Notice, Editor Pjns

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Advisory Opinions In International Law In The Context Of The Climate Crisis, Maria Antonia Tigre, Armando Rocha

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Between December 2022 and March 2023, three requests for an advisory opinion were submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Furthermore, a request for an advisory opinion from the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCtHPR) is being prepared. As such, 2024–2025 marks an unprecedented moment in global climate litigation: as of November 2024, we are on the verge of having four of the world’s most important international and regional courts and tribunals answering crucial legal questions on the (ex …

Factors Influencing Medical University Students' Emotions And Infection Prevention Behaviors Amid The Spread Of Covid-19: Analysis From A Social Network Perspective, Jian-Jhou Chen, Peih-Ying Lu

Journal of Medical Education

Background: By adopting a social network perspective, we estimated the impact of the extent of information dissemination and exchange on the emotions and behaviors of medical university students during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: Students from a medical university in southern Taiwan were selected through stratified sampling. From October 5 to October 11, 2020, a survey was conducted using a self-developed COVID-19 Response Assessment Scale. A total of 1,162 valid responses were collected. Results: Higher frequencies of information acquisition from social networks or news media and information exchange with others in social networks were associated with higher levels of worries regarding …

Advocacy Under Authoritarianism: Civil Society's Impact On Environmental Treaty Ratification In Southeast Asia, Christianna Sirindah Parr

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Does civil society in competitive authoritarian and authoritarian countries impact environmental policy? Specifically, does civil society speed up the ratification of international environmental treaties? Treaty ratification is a crucial step for translating international commitments to domestic politics. I argue that in competitive authoritarian regimes, where civil society operates under constraints but retains some space for advocacy, more robust civil society accelerates the ratification of environmental treaties compared to states with weaker civil society. These regimes often tolerate civil society pressure on non-threatening issues, such as environmental governance, which allows for strategic concessions without undermining state authority. Focusing on Southeast Asia, …