Digital Commons Network^™

Fetal Personhood And The Judicial Erosion Of Women's Rights Following Dobbs, Brendan Williams

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its prior precedents recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, a recognition that began nearly a half-century before with its decision in Roe vs. Wade. In its granting certiorari in a case involving a Mississippi law restricting abortion, the New York Times reported that the Court majority took advantage of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by allowing “Mississippi to perform a baitand-switch, widening what had been a narrower attempt to restrict abortion while she was alive into a full assault on Roe — the kind …

Secure 2.0'S Automatic Enrollment Provisions And Their Potentially Detrimental Effect On Undocumented Immigrants, Kelly Maurer

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 significantly expands retirement plan participation through automatic enrollment mandates, a policy aimed at improving financial security for American workers. However, these provisions may create unintended hardships for undocumented immigrant workers, who constitute between 4.4% to 5.4% of the U.S. labor force. This Note examines how automatic enrollment, default contribution rates, and current distribution requirements may create financial and legal hardships for undocumented workers lacking valid Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). The analysis explores the uncertain legal status of undocumented workers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as …

Beyond Human Discretion: Reconciling Ai Systems With Traditional Legal Frameworks, Daniel Ikem

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

In February 2023, attorneys representing a plaintiff in a personal injury case against Avianca Airlines submitted a legal brief containing multiple citations to nonexistent judicial decisions generated by ChatGPT. When questioned by the court, the attorneys admitted they had relied on research generated by artificial intelligence (AI) without verification, resulting in sanctions and reputational damage. Mata v. Avianca both represents professional negligence by legal professionals and a complex intersection of human and artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional research tools that retrieve existing information, generative AI (GAI) creates novel content that appears authoritative, introducing unique verification challenges that traditional ethical frameworks did …

Standard Of Proof In Child Welfare Cases, Guillermo Cintron

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

The lack of federal standards at the most crucial decision points of child welfare cases allows agencies across the country charged with ensuring the safety of children to abuse their authority by overregulating and policing Black and Brown families while interfering with their constitutional right to family integrity. Throughout this paper, I will share my experiences working in child welfare. Since 2001, I have worked with children and families in various roles involving the child welfare system. Over the course of my career, I have worked with children in foster care, providing therapeutic services as a case manager working with …

The Casualties Of The Open-Borders Debate: Latinx Feminist Voices On The Ethics Of Migration, Amely Logan

Posters - 2025

To consider philosophical perspectives on immigration restrictions and the consequences of the open borders debate more generally.

• The open borders debate within the ethics of migration consists of arguments from philosophers who justify states’ rights to restrict immigration and arguments from philosophers who believe states should have open borders.

• Christopher Heath Wellman’s “Immigration and Freedom of Association,” where he argues that states do in fact have a right to exclude immigrants from their territories. I highlight how the language and framing around migrants in works, like Wellman’s, itself does harm to migrants.

• While border enforcement results in …

Soluble Cd13 Is A Potential Mediator Of Neutrophil-Induced Thrombogenic Inflammation In Sars-Cov-2 Infection, Pei-Suen Tsou, Ramadan A. Ali, Chenyang Lu, Gautam Sule, Carmelo Carmona-Rivera, Serena Lucotti, Yuzo Ikari, Qi Wu, Phillip L. Campbell, Mikel Gurrea-Rubio, Kohei Maeda, Sharon E. Fox, William D. Brodie, Megan N. Mattichak, Caroline Foster, Ajay Tambralli, Srilakshmi Yalavarthi, M Asif Amin, Katarina Kmetova, Bruna Mazetto Fonseca, Emily Chong, Yu Zuo, Michael D. Maile, Luisa Imberti, Arnaldo Caruso, Francesca Caccuri, Virginia Quaresima, Alessandra Sottini, Douglas B. Kuhns, Et Al

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

The soluble variant of the ectopeptidase CD13 (sCD13), released from the cell surface by matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14), is a potent pro-inflammatory mediator, displaying chemotactic, angiogenic, and arthritogenic properties through bradykinin receptor B1 (B1R). We revealed a link between sCD13 and amplified neutrophil-mediated inflammatory responses in SARS-CoV-2 infection. sCD13 was markedly elevated in patients with COVID-19 and correlated with disease severity and variants, ethnicity, inflammation markers, and neutrophil extracellular trap formation (NETosis). Neutrophils treated with sCD13 showed heightened NETosis and chemotaxis, which were inhibited by sCD13 receptor blockade. Meanwhile sCD13 did not induce platelet aggregation. Single-cell analysis of COVID-19 lungs …

Improving The User Experience Of Joining Bowling Green State University’S Intramural Sports Program, Emily Piekenbrock

Honors Projects

This project, completed as part of the Honors and VCT Synthesis coursework at Bowling Green State University, focuses on improving the user experience of joining and participating in the university’s intramural sports program. Despite the program's popularity and impact on student life, usability issues within its IMLeagues platform and inconsistent or missing rulebooks have created barriers to entry and engagement. To address these challenges, the project involved the design and development of a standardized, user-friendly set of rulebooks for all intramural sports, a how-to guide for purchasing IM passes, and a quick-reference card for flag football referees. Grounded in research …

Understanding The Challenges And Opportunities For Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy In Filipino Physical Therapy Practice: An Exploratory Survey, Oliver Ang, Lily Ann Bautista, Maria Carmela Gerella, Roly Dimol, Arvie Vitente, Ulysses Juntilla, Michael Brian Gasidan

Rehabilitation Sciences Department Faculty Articles

Introduction. Orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) is renowned for its positive biophysical and psychosocial effects, making it an important tool in clinical practice. Although OMPT has long been a stable intervention used in developed countries, its adoption has spiked in developing countries, including the Philippines. Despite this progress, no comprehensive study has explored the factors that may hinder or enable Filipino physical therapists (PTs) from utilizing OMPT into their daily clinical practice. The aim of this study was to conduct a thorough behavioral analysis to determine Filipino PTs' capabilities, opportunities, and motivations for using orthopedic manual therapy in their …

Epigenetics, Preconception Tort Liability, And Public Health, Peter Sie

UC Law Journal

Epigenetics is an emerging science that studies how our behavior and environment can change the function of our genes without changing our genetic code. These changes can pass on to our children and grandchildren, for better or for worse. Epigenetic knowledge could change our understanding of human biology and individual responsibility. However, it is also ripe for misunderstanding. Commercial entities seek to capitalize on the hype to sell snake oil under the “epigenetic” label. In the popular press, reporters dramatize limited studies to create sensational headlines, often blaming parents for causing epigenetic harms to their children.

If this attitude toward …

America’S Failure To Rescue Parents: A Narrative Of Inequitable Tax “Reform”, Shannon Weeks Mccormack

UC Law Journal

Other developed nations provide a slew of direct benefits to parents, such as paid parental leave and affordable childcare. America instead takes a circuitous route, heavily relying on the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) to provide tax breaks to certain parents. In addition to being indirect and comparatively stingy, these “parental tax benefits” are not awarded equitably. Instead, they favor nonpoor, one-breadwinner families, ignore the plight of nonpoor, working parents incurring substantial childcare and other work-related costs, exhibit an outright hostility toward poor parents, and raise a host of other distributional concerns. This preferentialism is sticky— when Congress alters parental …

Detecting Greenwashing In The Automotive Sector: Unpacking Greenwashing In Tesla, Volkswagen, And Toyota Through Ai-Assisted Esg Evaluation, Sophie Keyser

Portugal: Sustainability and Environmental Justice

As environmental concerns increasingly influence consumer behavior and regulatory policy, corporations face growing pressure to demonstrate sustainability. In response, some firms engage in greenwashing—the practice of exaggerating or misrepresenting environmental initiatives to appear more sustainable than they are. The automotive industry, responsible for a significant share of global carbon emissions, is particularly vulnerable to this practice amid its transition to electric vehicles. This study evaluates the credibility of environmental claims made by Tesla, Volkswagen, and Toyota using an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted content analysis of proprietary and non-proprietary data sources. AI was employed to systematically assess and score company performance across …

Home Is Where The Heart Is: Expanding Affordable Housing Access, Amya Enna, Cari Mueske, Charles O'Sullivan, Paul Schreiber

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

This policy brief advocates for bold and transformative approaches to address the ongoing housing crisis in Minnesota. One of the most impactful solutions is the passage of the Minnesota Constitutional Amendment for Housing, which would enshrine the right to housing in our state constitution. This legal shift would serve as a foundation for equitable housing policies and sustainable funding for programs that meet the real needs of Minnesotans.

Moralitas, Pancasila, & Political Homophobia: The Resilience Of The Indonesian Lgbtq+ Community, Madeline Morton

Indonesia: Arts, Religion, and Social Change

In this paper, I attempt to understand Indonesian LGBTQ+ identity. With negative views on LGBTQ+ freedoms prevalent amongst the state, religious institutions, and media, I investigate what degree of visibility and expression can be afforded towards community building and individual expression. I catalogue the historical and legal perspectives which influence the current, lived realities of LGBTQ+ individuals. The concept of an ‘appropriate’ expression of gender and sexuality is learned, dynamic, and entrenched in cultural context. In Indonesia’s case, these understandings are forged through dominant systems of knowledge surrounding gender roles, marriage, and familial structure as connected to a nationalist identity. …

Water Current, Volume 57, No. 1, Spring 2025

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Shakespeare’S Early Histories And The Construction Of Government, Paul Olson

Department of English: Faculty Publications

Shakespeare’s first tetralogy has been treated as an account of the reinvention of government, especially a Hobbesian reinvention demonstrating how authoritarian government forces order out of chaos. This article argues that, though Hobbesian elements present themselves, Shakespeare employs subtexts available to his time and place to speak of how orderly government is constituted: that is, he relies on accounts of the Fall from perfection into chaos and the return from it through divinely blessed kingship that are present in syncretic readings of Ovid and the Bible. The two subtexts give order to the progress from Fall into chaos and back …

Goldilocks And The Three Frameworks: An Argument For A Hybrid Approach To Regulating Fusion Energy Systems, Mitch Boyer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Part I will explore the beginnings of nuclear power regulation in the United States by outlining the short lifespan of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), the NRC’s [Nuclear Regulatory Commission's] predecessor, and why the Agency’s two competing directives of protecting public safety and encouraging industry development eventually led to its dissolution in 1974. The subsequent separation and assignment of these directives to newly created agencies— safety to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and development to the Energy Research and Development Administration—demonstrates that the NRC’s primary statutory directive is regulating nuclear power safely. Part II will delve into the early days of …

Burying The Icepick: Why And How The United States Should End Its Dispute With Canada Over The Legal Status Of The Northwest Passage, Ryan Weber

William & Mary Law Review Online

This Note argues that the United States should work with Canada to pass an amendment to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that allows Canada to legally claim the Northwest Passage as internal waters. While the United States has long championed freedom of navigation, important U.S. security, environmental, and diplomatic interests weigh in favor of a legal regime that allows Canada to exercise complete control over the Northwest Passage. However, UNCLOS does not currently support Canada’s claim. Thus, the best means of accomplishing this objective is for the United States to work with Canada to …

Real Housewives & Real Crimes: The Implications Of Broadened Privacy Rights On White-Collar Offenses, Shrinithi Venkatesan

William & Mary Business Law Review

Reality television stars turn their fame into fortune, often blurring ethical lines as they exploit their platforms for personal gain. These personalities engage in fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement, all while maintaining a prominent presence on-screen. Specifically, stars on The Real Housewives franchise realize tremendous successes from their stints on the famous television show by capitalizing on their exposure through social media. With their newfound wealth and fame, many of these stars commit white-collar crimes under their viewers’ watchful eyes. This Note examines three prevailing examples of reality television stars who committed various white-collar crimes. Interestingly, networks tolerate criminal behavior …

The National Security Of Inbound & Outbound Investment: Reforming Cfius And Foci, S. Connor Cheadle

William & Mary Business Law Review

This Note examines the evolution and contemporary significance of regulatory frameworks guiding the involvement of private corporations in the U.S. national security regime and the regime’s regulation of inbound and outbound investments as they pertain to national security interests. This Note focuses primarily on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and Foreign Ownership Control or Influence (FOCI) as regulatory mechanisms. Originating from the Cold War and adapted to post-9/11 security concerns, the scope of national security has widened from the traditional defense and intelligence functions to a more all-encompassing interest, including economic policy and the actions …

Introduction: The Future Of Global Journalism—Relationships, Tools, And Power, Ruth Moon, Lea Hellmueller, Herman Wasserman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Combating Genocide Denial Through Rwanda’S Foreign Policy, Jonathan R. Beloff

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Rwanda’s foreign policy is still greatly influenced by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, commonly referred to as the Rwanda Genocide. Despite the genocidal massacres ending over thirty years ago, the Rwandan government still perceives its continued threat. Despite tangible threats to the state, such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) decline, the concern of the genocide’s lasting ideology and denial still concerns Rwandan policymakers responsible for the nation’s foreign policy and remembrance. This research relies on in-depth fieldwork with various Rwandan government agencies responsible for crafting state security, foreign policy, and anti-genocide policies. It examines …

Play And Martial Arts: Play Philosophy's Perspective On Fighting, Joseph Rn Donahoe

Honors Thesis

Play philosophy stands at the heart of all martial arts interactions through the medium of play fighting. Moreover, when examined more closely, martial arts serves as the culminating form of play fighting and the idealized representation of play philosophy. Simply put, martial arts embodies play thoroughly, and the specific style of combat-based martial arts serves as the perfect example of play fighting. To understand how the movement from play fighting to martial arts evolved, we can examine the inherent structure of play through authors such as Wojciech Cynarski, Scott Erble, and Kurt Riezler. Applying Scott Eberle’s elements of play and …

Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Jobs, And Governance In The Age Of Ai, Todd Bruns

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Accounting Capstone: Enhancing Integration, Reflective Learning, And Workplace Transition For Future Professionals, Duan Ning, Magdeleine Lew, Clarence Goh, Poh Sun Seow, Gary Pan

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

This study examines whether a university capstone course focused on accounting data and analytics equips undergraduate accounting students with the relevant professional and technological skills for future work. There is concern that the traditional accounting curriculum, which often emphasizes theoretical knowledge and technical skills, may not sufficiently prepare students for the complex, data-driven environment in the workplace. Therefore, our study is important because professional and technological skills are essential skills that students need to thrive in complex, data-driven environments, and our study provides insights into whether a capstone course can equip students with these skills. To examine these issues, we …

74/2 | Hellenistic Nysa-Scythopolis: The Finds And Conclusions, Gabriel Mazor,, Walid Atrash, Débora Sandhaus

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This is the fifth volume of publications of the Bet She’an Archaeological Project, describing the large-scale IAA excavations at the site of Bet She’an–ancient Nysa-Scythopolis, during 1986–2002. Bet She’an V: Hellenistic Nysa-Scythopolis is the second volume presenting the full excavation report of the IAA excavations at Tel Iẓṭabba, conducted between 1991 and 1994. The first volume in this series, Bet She’an IV (IAA Reports 62), focused on two corpora of finds: stamped amphora handles and sealings. The current volume, Bet She’an V, is comprised of two parts (IAA Reports 74/1, 74/2) dedicated to the stratigraphy, architecture and finds from the …

Prioritizing Speech Test Cases, Zhou Yang, Jieke Shi, Muhammad Hilmi Asyrofi, Bowen Xu, Xin Zhou, Donggyun Han, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

As Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) systems gain widespread acceptance, there is a pressing need to rigorously test and enhance their performance. Nonetheless, the process of collecting and executing speech test cases is typically both costly and time-consuming. This presents a compelling case for the strategic prioritization of speech test cases, which consist of a piece of audio and the corresponding reference text. The central question we address is: In what sequence should speech test cases be collected and executed to identify the maximum number of errors at the earliest stage? In this study, we introduce PRiOritizing sPeecH tEsT …

Ibuprofen, Flurbiprofen Or Naproxen Sodium Minimally Influences Musculoskeletal Adaptations To Treadmill Exercise In Rats, Brandon Roberts, Alyssa Geddis, Alexandra Ciuciu, Marinaliz Reynoso, Nikhil Mehta, Alyssa Varanoske, Alyssa Kelley, Maximus Leiss, Alexander Kolb, Julie Hughes, Marshall Naimo, Ryan Tomlinson, Jeffery Staab

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may influence musculoskeletal health. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of three different NSAIDS: naproxen sodium, ibuprofen, flurbiprofen or a placebo on musculoskeletal adaptations in rodents with or without 6 weeks of aerobic exercise.

METHODS: Nine-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 80) were randomized to either exercise (EX) or no-exercise control (CON) conditions and treated with naproxen, ibuprofen (IBU), flurbiprofen (FLU) or placebo (PLA). For exercise, rats ran 5 days per week for 6 weeks at a 5% incline on a motorized treadmill for 30 min. Three-point bending (3 PB) and …

Reducing Information Asymmetry: Economic Value Of Airbnb Signals In A Small College Town, Hatice Sena Akkurt

Theses and Dissertations

Trust is the backbone of platform operations. Airbnb platform designers implement various methods including trust-building mechanisms, user interface (UI) artifacts, and reputation management systems. Previous research has explored trust in Airbnb, yet little is known about the economic value of trust indicators in smaller cities and rural areas. Thus, this thesis investigates the economic significance of User Interface (UI) artifacts, including the “Superhost” badge, star ratings, and listing photographs, within the peer-to-peer accommodation sector in the Columbia Metropolitan Area. Drawing on signaling theory, we conducted quantitative analysis, to examine the relationship between trust indicators and listing prices, controlling factors like …

Eating The Fat Of The Land: The Work Of Coxiella Burnetii To Traverse Intracellular Lipid Landscapes, Charlie Porto

Theses & Dissertations

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular pathogen and the causative agent of Q fever in humans. With primary hosts in livestock ruminants, C. burnetii is endemic globally, presenting significant health risks to agricultural workers and herd health at large. Numerous wild animal reservoirs exist, increasingly threatened by expanding livestock ranges. Furthermore, with a low infectious dose through aerosol transmission, the CDC considers C. burnetii a potential bioweapon, though in humans a large amount of infections persist subclinically, occasionally progressing to pneumonia and hepatitis with chronic infections leading to endocarditis.

The parasitic life cycle of C. burnetii is biphasic, a small …

Essays On Platform Operations: Applications In Service Operations And Sustainability, Timothy Campbell Clarkson

Theses and Dissertations

Online platforms inhabit every corner of daily life, from social media, to medicine, to retail, and everything in between. Platform owners are met with a litany of challenges as they seek to maximize the platform's value and implement novel strategies to foster widespread adoption. This dissertation focuses on empirically assessing the impact of online platforms in both sustainability and service operations contexts. In the first chapter, we examine the impact of introducing an agricultural advisory platform on smallholder farmer potato production in a single district in Rural India. We find positive impacts to overall production, and we explore the mechanism …