Digital Commons Network^™

The Stigma Surrounding Sex And Sexuality In American Culture, Sophia L. Pollock

Senior Theses

An important question to examine is the origin and implications of the taboo against sex and sexuality. The stigma against these topics encourages negative public health implications like poor sex education, high rates of sexually transmitted infections, and teen pregnancy. History of sexual stigma was examined through physical media and digital articles from the Thomas Cooper Library databases. The background and global perspective of these stigmas are covered, examining how past and distant cultures deal with sex. How sex is portrayed in the media, why a healthy sex life is important, and the subject of sex education are also addressed. …

Could It Be Cold War? How Sino-American Tensions Are Unfolding In The South Pacific., Peter R. Caldwell

Senior Theses

This thesis assesses the impacts of geopolitical competition between the United States and China, focusing on the South Pacific as a primary theatre for this great power contest, and investigating the uses of foreign aid by regional powers to effect both the geopolitical alignment and domestic policies of the developing states of the South Pacific. This paper finds that foreign aid to these South Pacific States is geopolitically motivated, and induces greater attention from competing regional powers, furthering the ongoing competition. This paper first provides an overview of the evolving political situation in Kiribati, a Pacific Island Country which has …

Guide To Sec And Business Open Source Corporate Intelligence, Lawrence J. Trautman, Brian Elzweig, Neal F. Newman

Faculty Scholarship

An agency of the U.S. intelligence community observes, "The explosion of open source intelligence (OSINT) in recent years has transformed how governments and people around the world consume and process information about society and global issues." It is likely that "We all use open-source and probably don't even realize it, but we also use it for different reasons. You might use open-source information to do a credibility check and to find out more about the person selling you something on Facebook marketplace." Others "may research someone… met on a dating app or before hiring someone for a job." Every use …

Ask An Hci Research Ethicist: A Recurring Column On Research Ethics Challenges, Casey Fiesler, Jessica Vitak, Michael Zimmer

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Created in 2016, the SIGCHI Research Ethics Committee advises SIGCHI conferences and communities on ethical issues that arise in the course of conducting research. The committee also provides guidance and feedback on research ethics issues that arise during the peer review process; as a result, we have a broad sense of novel and persisting open questions within our community. Through this recurring column, we will continue this work by raising awareness and increasing discussion of ethics in the context of conducting HCI research.

The Myth Of The Best Interest Of The Child, Victoria Mikesell Mather

West Virginia Law Review

One of the basic tenets of Family Law as applied to children is consideration of “best interest of the child” in making decisions. Standards for custody, termination, adoption, and all other matters affecting children are overlaid with consideration of best interest. Unfortunately, the promise of best interest is lost in the actual mechanics of making these critical decisions involving children. This Article explores the disconnect between the ideal of using the best interest of the child as a key factor in legal decisions affecting children and the practicalities of competing interests. The Article first explores the common concern of the …

Drowning In The Patent Pool: Is Statutory Invention Registration A Lifeguard?, Henry H. Perritt Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

Patents for inventions, available since the first Congress enacted the Patent Law of 1790, have been controversial. Defenders justify patents on the grounds that they are necessary to protect inventors from free riding—copying that would deprive the inventors of an opportunity to recover the costs of development. Detractors attack patents as unnecessary monopolies, thwarting innovation. The debate continues, even as the law itself has remained remarkably constant. Technology and industry structure have not remained constant, however. Patents have proliferated, resulting in patent thickets that make it impossible to create and market any innovative product without infringing hundreds of patents. Patent …

How Seeing Rural America As A Commons Can (Re)Build Mutual Respect Across The Rural-Urban Divide, Lisa R. Pruitt

West Virginia Law Review

This Essay, written for a symposium that honors and amplifies Ann Eisenberg’s 2024 book, Reviving Rural America: Toward Policies for Resilience, contemplates benefits that could flow from taking seriously Eisenberg’s conceptualization of rural America as a commons. In particular, I argue that the mutual respect and collaboration necessary for a successful commons could help heal the rural-urban rift, which has widened dramatically in the last few decades. Recent studies suggest that rural residents have what scholars call a rural consciousnesses, which means that living in a rural place is a key aspect of their identity. One feature of this identity …

Put Me In, Coach: Constitutional Concerns Of Judicial Activism And Legislating From The Bench, Jacob M. Elliott

Senior Honors Theses

Unrestrained judicial activism and legislating from the bench at the Supreme Court level place federalism and freedom in jeopardy. By ignoring crucial doctrines like jurisdiction, deference, and independence, the Supreme Court has demonstrated a tendency toward reinterpreting existing Constitutional precedent as they see fit, basing judgments on extra-legal influences, and supplanting Constitutional principles with their own personal policy preferences.

Numerous cases demonstrate the looming threat of judicial overreach; these cases are often considered some of the most damaging and injurious decisions in the history of the American federal judiciary. One potential solution is to appoint justices who will operate …

A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Emasculation Of Men Through Televised Forums Of Entertainment, Skylar G. Sexton

Senior Honors Theses

What constitutes manliness stands on the brink of collapse. Society wages war on the idea of biological men and women. This simultaneously blurs the lines of the distinctive characteristics that define a man such as initiative, protective instincts, self-control, and leadership. Media forums act as a reflection as well as an influencing medium for a cultural body. Films have fundamentally changed their depiction of men in television since the 1960s and 1970s. Manliness is being redefined through films' depictions of a man, as well as by societal movements such as feminism. Men are being emasculated in society today, which is …

Understanding How Chaperones Influence Protein Aggregation, Hannah Buchholz

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cells depend on properly folded proteins to function and remain healthy. If proteins adopt a nonnative conformation, they may have an increased propensity to clump together or aggregate, which can compromise cell viability. Unwanted aggregates are linked to a class of diseases called proteinopathies, which include fatal disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Fortunately, cellular factors, known as molecular chaperones, help maintain protein homeostasis by limiting and disassembling protein aggregates. However, the mechanisms that underlie how chaperones modify protein aggregation are poorly understood. The goal of this dissertation is to explore the molecular mechanisms used by …

Flex-Fuel Mixing-Controlled Combustion Enabled By Prechamber Ignition (Pc-Mcc), Jared J. Zeman

Dissertations (1934 -)

There is an imminent need to displace fossil diesel fuel with cleaner burning, domestically produced, renewable fuels for use in heavy-duty engines. Bioethanol is a prime candidate as it widely adopted in the U.S. as a gasoline additive ranging in volume percentage from 10% (E10) up to 85% (E85). Direct substitution of market available ethanol-gasoline blends for diesel fuel is not plausible as the stark reactivity differences would not constitute the same ignition quality nor achieve auto-ignition at all. This work focuses on the development of prechamber enabled mixing-controlled combustion (PC-MCC) as an advanced ignition strategy to facilitate reliable ignition …

The Influence Of Leadership Behaviors On School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists' Perception Of Burnout, Emily Lambert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current research on burnout and attrition of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) focused on the reason for attrition, which has remained relatively consistent across time. Despite identifying the factors contributing to attrition, minimal research has focused on how SLPs can prevent burnout or how to improve SLP retention rates in schools. Self-determination theory, fulfillment of competence, autonomy, and relatedness increase intrinsic motivation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify how SLPs employed in Texas school districts described the factors contributing to their resilience in remaining employed in the schools. Fifteen SLPs participated in semistructured interviews about their perception of …

Insulin-Like Growth Factor 2 As A Driving Force For Exponential Expansion And Differentiation Of The Neonatal Thymus, Seung Woo Kang, Bryan R Helm, Yu Wang, Shiyun Xiao, Wen Zhang, Anusha Vasudev, Ken S Lau, Qi Liu, Ellen R Richie, Laura P Hale, Nancy R Manley

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Like all organs, the thymus grows in size and function rapidly during development, but this growth comes to a halt after birth. However, the molecular mechanisms behind such a transition in the thymus remain obscure. Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) of the murine thymic stroma, we identified that major transcriptomic changes occur in the endothelium and mesenchyme across the transition to homeostasis. Differentially expressed gene and intercellular network analyses of temporally resolved scRNA-seq data revealed fibroblast-derived insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) as a candidate driving neonatal thymic expansion. We demonstrated that IGF2 activity promotes a cortical thymic epithelial cell-specific proliferation …

Infringing Information Architectures, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

Information architectures—systems that facilitate storing and sharing data and content—underpin daily life, from streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Since the printing press, these systems and their novel features have challenged the bounds of copyright law, leading to accusations that providers and users directly infringe others’ copyrights. Almost fifty years ago, however, a largely unexplored paradigm shift occurred. Copyright owners started to allege that information architecture providers should be broadly secondarily liable for all their users’ infringements. These claims, which this Article terms architectural infringement claims, pose an acute challenge to the …

Beyond The Bickering: Examining Event, Victim, And Offender Characteristics For Sibling Abuse Incidents In Oregon, Isabella M. Starr

University Honors Theses

Sibling violence (SV) is the most prevalent form of intrafamilial and domestic violence, yet it remains underrecognized and lacks the systematic attention given to other forms of family violence. Often minimized or misclassified as typical sibling rivalry, SV can inflict serious and lasting physical, emotional, and psychological harm on its victims. This study explores the characteristics of sibling violence incidents reported to law enforcement in Oregon between 2016 and 2023, using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Through an analysis of 5,793 single-victim, single-offender incidents, the research examines demographic patterns among victims and offenders, incident dynamics, and typological …

The Placenta Regulates Intrauterine Fetal Growth Via Exosomal Pparγ, Xiaofang Luo, Biao Huang, Ping Xu, Hao Wang, Baozhen Zhang, Li Lin, Jiujiang Liao, Mingyu Hu, Xiyao Liu, Jiayu Huang, Yong Fu, Mark D Kilby, Rodney E Kellems, Xiujun Fan, Yang Xia, Philip N Baker, Hongbo Qi, Chao Tong

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Abnormal adipogenesis is a major contributor to fetal growth restriction (FGR) and its associated complications. However, the underlying etiology remains unclear. Here, it is reported that the placentas of women with pregnancies complicated with FGR exhibit peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) inactivation. In mice, trophoblast-specific ablation of murine PPARγ reproduces the phenotype of human fetuses with FGR and defective adipogenesis. Coculture of trophoblasts with preadipocytes significantly improves preadipocyte commitment and differentiation and increases the transcription of a series of adipogenic genes via intercellular transfer of exosomal PPARγ proteins. Moreover, nanoparticle-mediated placenta-specific delivery of rosiglitazone (RGZ) significantly rescues adipogenesis defects in …

Pediatric Myeloid Neoplasms With Ubtf Tandem Duplications: Morphologic, Immunophenotypic, And Clinical Characterization, Mahsa Khanlari, Wei Wang, Yonghui Ni, Paul E Mead, Masayuki Umeda, Tami Westover, Jing Ma, Jeffrey E Rubnitz, Juan M Barajas, Stanley Pounds, Jeffery M Klco

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tandem duplications (TDs) in exons of upstream binding transcription factor (UBTF-TD) are a rare recurrent alteration in pediatric and adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)/neoplasm. Although recently identified, AML with UBTF-TD is now considered a distinct subtype of AML. To further our understanding of myeloid neoplasms with UBTF-TD, we analyzed clinical, morphologic, and immunophenotypic characteristics of 27 pediatric patients with UBTF-TD-positive myeloid neoplasm, including 21 diagnosed as AML and 6 as MDS. Our data demonstrated that UBTF-TD is frequently associated with cytopenia, hypercellular marrow with erythroid hyperplasia, and trilineage dysplasia. Blasts …

Defining A 'Cells To Society' Research Framework For Appendiceal Tumours, Andreana N Holowatyj, Michael J Overman, Konstantinos I Votanopoulos, Andrew M Lowy, Patrick Wagner, Mary K Washington, Cathy Eng, Wai Chin Foo, Richard M Goldberg, Mojgan Hosseini, Kamran Idrees, Douglas B Johnson, Ardaman Shergill, Erin Ward, Nicholas C Zachos, Deborah Shelton

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tumours of the appendix — a vestigial digestive organ attached to the colon — are rare. Although we estimate that around 3,000 new appendiceal cancer cases are diagnosed annually in the USA, the challenges of accurately diagnosing and identifying this tumour type suggest that this number may underestimate true population incidence. In the current absence of disease-specific screening and diagnostic imaging modalities, or well-established risk factors, the incidental discovery of appendix tumours is often prompted by acute presentations mimicking appendicitis or when the tumour has already spread into the abdominal cavity — wherein the potential misclassification of appendiceal tumours as …

Executive Committee - Agenda, 4/1/2025, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Agendas

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Ai Usage On Employee Work Outcomes: The Mediating Roles Of Personal Control And Job Insecurity And The Moderating Role Of Ai Trust, Tiantian Wang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The widespread application of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the workplace offers significant potential for process optimization andperformance improvement. However, the psychological mechanisms throughwhich AI usage affects employee outcomes remain underexplored. To address this gap, the present study investigated a sample of 170 employees froma media company in China, utilizing a three-wave longitudinal survey design. Specifically, this study examined how AI usage influenced employee creativity and task performance improvement through two mediatingmechanisms: the enhancement of personal control in problem-solving and the elicitation of job insecurity. Furthermore, the moderating role of trust in AI inthe relationship between AI usage and job …

The Message Framing Effects In The Process Of Health Behavior Change, Zixia Fang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As a key means to promote health behavior change, information intervention has gradually attracted widespread attention from all walks of life. The same information presented in different ways may lead to different decision-making judgments, especially in the process of transmitting and receiving health information, which affects individual behavioral intentions and health consumption decisions. This information framing effect is considered by most scholars to be an important factor in health behavior intervention, but its specific mechanism of action in health behavior change has not been fully discussed. This paper constructs a theoretical model of information framing effect to explore the specific …

Chevron Was Not, And Cannot Be, Overruled: The Dullness Of Loper Bright, Edward L. Rubin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

As expected, the Supreme Court declared, in Loper Bright Enterprises. v. Raimondo,' that "Chevron is overruled." The Court was notably vague about the principle that would replace it, declaring that "courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority," but providing little guidance about how this crucial task should be performed. This is an obvious defect in an opinion with innumerable defects, but the problems with the Court's decision go well beyond its specific flaws. The Court did not understand the decision that it claimed to overrule. Chevron is not simply a …

Silent Trusts And The Conflicts Of Laws, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

There are good reasons why the settlor of a trust may not wish the beneficiaries of the trust to know of its existence at the time that the trust is created and funded or even for years thereafter. The settlor may not want beneficiaries to learn of the trust's existence until they have matured, accomplished a specific task, become self-supporting, or abandoned prob- lematic or destructive behaviors. In other instances, the settlor may not, in principle, be opposed to the beneficiaries learning about the existence of the trust but does not want to grant direct access to the trust instrument …

Presidential Regulation, Ganesh Sitaraman, Timothy Meyer

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article documents and analyzes the rise of a new mode of economic governance: presidential regulation. Today, the President regularly bypasses not only Congress but also the executive branch’s own administrative agencies and directly imposes sweeping new economic regulations. President Biden, for instance, created new regulatory regimes governing producers of artificial-intelligence technologies, companies that trade […]

Statutory Contracts, Jeff Gordon

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Private law offers a unique solution to the problem of long-term fiscal commitment. When Congress enacts a spending program that will take many years to reach fruition, there is a risk of a subsequent Congress or President cutting off funding in the interim. There is no escape from the problem within appropriations law itself One solution, however, is to entrust private sector allies as vessels of long-term commitment. As a matter of political economy, that solution draws on policy-feedback theory. As a matter of law, the solution rests on a mechanism that Congress already uses but has not recognized its …

Responsive Democracy And The Administrative State, Edward L. Rubin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

I would like to thank Dean Micheal Scharf and Professor Jonathan Entin for inviting me to Case Western Reserve University School of Law to deliver the Frank J. Battisti Memorial Lecture and thank all of you for attending. It's really a pleasure to be here and to have the opportunity to offer a talk named after such a distinguished jurist. Judge Frank J. Battisti served on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio for 33 years, and he was chief judge of that court for more than two decades. During his time on the bench, Judge …

Reconciling Regulatory Impact Analyses And Agencies, Sydney C. Schoonover, W. Kip Viscusi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Federal administrative agencies frequently undertake regulatory impact analyses to provide the basis for promulgating new regulations and justify the reasonableness of regulations upon judicial re- view. Using analytical methods, agencies quantify and compare the relative costs and benefits of regulatory alternatives, seeking policies that maximize net societal benefits, subject to statutory constraints. Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo threatens to upend this methodological check on the rationality of agency action in two distinct ways: first by limiting the permissibility of regulatory impact analysis as a basis for regulation, and second by replacing technical and scientific-informed components of the analysis with judicial …

Opioid Prescribing Patterns And The Effect Of Chronic Kidney Disease In Pediatric Urology Population: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis., Kristen M. Meier, Darren Ha, Carter Sevick, Eliza D. Blanchette, Megan A. Brockel, Vijaya M. Vemulakonda, Kyle O. Rove

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Significant efforts have been undertaken to decrease opioid prescribing, but there is little research into patient-specific factors presenting as barriers in the pediatric surgical population. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been shown to be a safe and effective alternative to opioids for pain control, however, concerns about their impact on renal function limit their use in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Data is limited on the interplay of CKD on opioid prescribing.

OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that opioid reduction efforts were successful, but patients with CKD would be more likely to receive an opioid prescription than those without CKD. …

Appellate Review Of Daubert Rulings, Steven M. Klepper

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.

Artificial Intelligence: Maryland's Double-Edged Sword In Employment Decisions, Jessica S. Kweon

University of Baltimore Law Forum

No abstract provided.