Digital Commons Network^™

A Question Of Constitutionality: Do Private Residential Lease Provisions Banning Firearm Possession Violate The Second Amendment?, Mitchell Perez

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

"That's How It Is On This Bitch Of An Earth": The Possibilities, Pitfalls, And Potential Of References To Waiting For Godot In Judicial Opinions, Ben Phillips

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

After Amgen: Examining The Supreme Court's Impact On Patents For Therapeutic Antibodies, Noah Pollio

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Ai And The Fine Print Disruption Of Copyright, Nancy Kim

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

No abstract provided.

The Finite Fourier Transform: Realizing The Irreducible Complex Representations Of The Special Linear Group Over A Finite Field, Kelly Jane Lyle

Master's Theses

Classically, one of the central methods of understanding an abstract group has been through its representations in other structures, such as permutations of sets or linear transformations of vector spaces. As a detailed illustration of this method, we will focus on the matrix group SL(2,q), which consists of all invertible 2x2 matrices with entries in a finite field with q elements. We will outline the explicit construction of every (irreducible) complex representation of this group. Along the way we will also touch on foundational concepts in representation theory, such as characters and induced representations.

Red, White-, And Blue-Collar Crime: Federal Sentencing Practices Among White-Collar And Blue-Collar Offenders, Henna Judge

Fordham Law Review

Under the current federal sentencing regime, district courts exercise immense amounts of discretion when sentencing. Though strict adherence to the U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines (the “Guidelines”) was once mandatory, courts must now use these Guidelines as an advisory starting point and make a series of fact-specific determinations when sentencing a defendant. Though judicial discretion in this realm aids in preventing undue reliance on Guidelines-range recommendations that can lack nuance, it also invites bias.

In recent years, scholars and courts alike have called attention to a potential disparity in the way blue-collar and white-collar offenders are sentenced. This Note examines relevant …

Federal Courts, Class Actions, And The Jurisdictional Void, Courtney T. Welch

Fordham Law Review

To invoke the jurisdiction of a federal court, a plaintiff must satisfy the requirements of Article III. Among other things, Article III requires a plaintiff to have and maintain personal stake throughout the lifespan of the litigation. Though a simple premise, this constitutional requirement has a complicated history. This is especially true as applied to class action lawsuits, where plaintiffs bring claims both on behalf of themselves and other harmed individuals.

The U.S. Supreme Court has applied flexible rules to some—but not all—of Article III’s requirements in class actions. The breadth of this flexibility, though, is uncertain. Accordingly, so too …

Benefits Of Animal Assisted Therapy In Pediatric Inpatient Units: A Literature Review, Logan M. Shiflett

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this systematic review of literature was to establish if animal assisted therapy (AAT) is helpful in the reduction of stress for patients on pediatric inpatient floors. The PICOT question that led this review was: In pediatric patients, how does animal assisted therapy affect patient outcomes related to increased hospitalizations? The EBSCOhost database, as well as the Web of Science and CINAHL Complete information sources, were used to find relevant studies for this review that assessed the benefits and contraindications for AAT. Key terms such as “animal assisted therapy,” “pediatrics,” and “inpatient” were used to narrow down the …

The Dangers Of Ai In Academia -- Amalia Jiva, Ai In The Human World, College Writing Program, Sebastian Quesada, Jordan Barber, Aiden Needles

First Year Seminars in Project-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Rapid Incorporation But Contrasting Stability Of Fertilizer Versus Litter Nitrogen In Mineral-Associated Organic Matter, Emma Bergh

Master's Theses and Capstones

Nitrogen (N) is abundant in agricultural soils during early spring due to both decomposing plant residues and initial fertilizer applications before peak crop uptake. This N is vulnerable to loss through leaching and denitrification, but a portion of this N can become stabilized in mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM). However, the short-term incorporation and long-term stability of different N sources within MAOM remain poorly understood. This study examined how fertilizer and litter derived N are incorporated and stabilized in MAOM using a three-week incubation experiment with 15N labeled fertilizer, rye root, and rye shoot additions to paired cropland and grassland soils. …

Potential Predictors Of Nonconductive Wood Column Volumes In Five Maple Species, Tanner Ryan Frost

Master's Theses and Capstones

Maple tapping guidelines rely on the understanding of nonconductive wood column (NWC) formation, but this process has only been studied in sugar maple and may be ineffective at advising producers in their tapping activities due to the variation in wounding between sites and the lack of research into alternative species more recently being brought to market. The goal of this study was to investigate sap sugar concentrations and sap yields as predictors of nonconductive wood column (NWC) volumes in five Acer species: sugar maple (Acer saccharum), red maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), Norway maple (Acer platanoides), and boxelder …

Modular And Combined Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms For Extraterrestrial Resource Prospecting, Gregory Hatfield

Master's Theses and Capstones

The success of future crewed and autonomous space missions hinges on effectively utilizing in-situ resources available in the extraterrestrial environment to sustain missions and habitation. Prior to extraction of resources, such missions will require robust and efficient methods for extraterrestrial resource prospecting. However, traditional global optimization techniques struggle with the complex and non-convex search spaces inherent to mapping and identifying resource deposits on extraterrestrial surfaces.

This research addresses the resource prospecting problem by developing and evaluating novel variants of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Here, four novel algorithms, their variants, and four combined algorithms are rigorously tested and confirmed. The …

Underwater Remote Sensing Of Oil: Validation Testing Of A Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Acoustic Sensor For Emergency Response, Sara Jessica Berg

Master's Theses and Capstones

During an oil spill, emergency responders need to be able to estimate the thickness of oil to determine the type of recovery equipment to use and the environmental impact for natural resource damage assessment, perform a risk assessment, and generate response plans. There is an abundance of remote sensing techniques and devices that have been evaluated for use in oil spill emergency response. One that has repeatedly shown promise is active sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) system that transmits and receives acoustic signals. However, the systems that have been tested are often prototypes, not readily available during an oil spill …

Preliminary Analysis Of A Wave Energy Converter For Remote Power Generation, William Frank Pelger Ii

Master's Theses and Capstones

This thesis presents the design, development, and characterization of a free-floating Oscillating Water Column (OWC) Wave Energy Converter (WEC) created by the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Center for Sustainable Seafood Systems (CSSS) in collaboration with the United States Naval Academy (USNA) Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering Department. The project aims to advance small-scale WEC technologies for integration into aquaculture systems along with remote military applications.The initial design and construction of the OWC was completed as a USNA senior capstone project, providing the foundation for subsequent development and testing. The OWC was tested in the UNH Jere A. Chase Ocean …

An Inter-Model Comparison Of Snow Water Equivalent In Watershed 3, Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, For Winter 2023-2024, Ryan Reed

Master's Theses and Capstones

Estimates of snow water equivalent (SWE) are crucial for water availability and flood risk assessment due to the contribution of snow melt to increased surface runoff. However, many regions do not have observations of SWE, thus necessitating a robust method to estimate SWE for streamflow forecasting. Numerical snowpack models provide a potential way to estimate SWE in areas without observations. However, there are a multitude of snowpack models available, and they range greatly in their complexity. Even so, there have been few snowpack model intercomparisons to assess the trade-offs in model performance and complexity, and those that do exist did …

Ai Procurement As Regulatory Reconnaissance, Sam Adler

Fordham Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a black box technology in a black box industry. Some view AI as a life-changing technology capable of advancing society and perhaps even saving the world, while others fear its capacity to harm. Like Dr. Frankenstein, developers fear the unpredictability of their own creations; deployers fear the unknown risks of third-party AI tools that market pressures drive them to assume; members of civil society fear AI’s capacity to oppress the already oppressed and degrade trust in institutions; and everyday users fear the undisclosed potential of AI to cause harm by means they cannot readily comprehend. These …

Not So Firmly Settled: How The Inconsistent Jurisprudence Of The Firm Resettlement Bar Serves As A Tool For Asylum Seeker Exclusion, Caroline V. Garrido

Fordham Law Review

The firm resettlement bar to asylum, designed to limit protections to those without refuge elsewhere, has become a source of inconsistency, confusion, and exclusion in U.S. asylum law. Circuit courts have adopted two different approaches for determining whether an asylum seeker has firmly resettled in a third country. Despite the Board of Immigration Appeals’ attempt to unify these approaches through the introduction of a burden-shifting framework, courts remain divided, and there is no clear guidance on what constitutes firm resettlement. This Note argues that this lack of guidance has led to inconsistent court holdings and interpretations that conflict with the …

Root Analysis Of Glechoma Hederacea, Austin Z. Shiner

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Glechoma hederacea, or commonly referred to as ground ivy, is a weed that can be found in many places such as parks, yards, and landscapes. A mutant genotype of Glechoma hederacea that was exhibiting virescence was collected from a single mutant branch of the wildtype ground ivy. The collected mutant has delayed chloroplast development, and this appears to impact plastidial terpenoid synthesis resulting in damage to leaf tissue. Since a range of plant hormones include isoprene units, altered IPP synthesis may have visible impacts beyond the green tissues of the plant, so this study aimed at addressing this question. …

A Comparison Of Cultural Aspects Of Breastfeeding In The United States Vs Italy, Madison P. Wallace

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Healthcare systems internationally differ from policies, funding and resources available, and it is evident when comparing the United States and Italy. Participation in the Nursing Across the Lifespan study abroad program at the University of Arkansas Rome Center and Tiny Tusk Breastfeeding and Infant Support internship inspired a comparative exploration of breastfeeding practices in the United States versus. Italy. The United States has a mixed public- private insurance system, workplace policies and government assistance, while Italy has a universal healthcare system with a mandated maternal work paid leave to support breastfeeding mothers. Italy's program supports education and physical care needed …

Exploring Differences In Outcomes For Boys Vs. Girls In Parent-Child Interaction Therapy With Toddlers: Results From A Community Sample, Reese Norbie

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy with Toddlers (PCIT-T) is an early intervention designed to address behavioral and emotional dysregulation in very young children by strengthening caregiver-child relationships and improving parenting strategies. Although previous research has identified sex differences in childhood behavioral and emotional presentations, little research has examined whether boys and girls differ in outcomes following PCIT-T treatment, especially with it being relatively new. The current study explored demographic differences, protective factors, and treatment outcomes among boys and girls receiving PCIT-T in a United States community sample. Participants included toddlers and caregivers receiving services from trained PCIT-T clinicians across the United States. …

Enabling Injustice: Slapps, Democratic Values, And The Price Of Truth, Costantino Grasso

Buffalo Law Review

Conventional analysis of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) often focuses on the promise of recent procedural reforms, including recent U.S. state-level reforms, the 2024 E.U. Anti-SLAPP Directive, the U.K. government’s 2025 SLAPP Bill, and related measures in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. This Article argues that these legislative responses, introduced amid growing international concern, still leave structural vulnerabilities, have limited focus, and do not address the deep-seated inadequacies of substantive law that allow powerful actors to chill public-interest speech through abusive lawfare.

Adopting an interdisciplinary “new legal realist” approach, this Article decodes the anatomy of this modern …

National Security And Farmland Ownership: Livin’ Afida Loca, Jennifer Zwagerman

Buffalo Law Review

The brutal history of conflict over land demonstrates its importance for national security. Farmland in particular is in short supply and has appropriately been designated as “critical infrastructure.” However, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reviews foreign investment in farmland only if the farmland’s location is close to military or other sensitive sites. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) gathers information on specific types of foreign farmland investment yet is wholly removed from any type of national security review. While it might seem like a ban on foreign investment in farmland is an easy solution …

Suspending The Truancy Paradigm, Barbara Fedders, Lucy Carlson, Max Parker

Buffalo Law Review

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, school absences have skyrocketed. While racially minoritized, disabled, and low-income students have historically been, and remain, most likely to experience absence, white and affluent students’ rates of attendance have also declined. To respond to this new universality of student absenteeism, some policymakers have begun to seek alternatives to what we term “the truancy paradigm.”

We define the truancy paradigm as the range of coercive and often punitive interventions deployed by states and school districts to enforce compulsory attendance statutes. This paradigm, we argue, wrongly assumes (a) that strict enforcement of compulsory attendance laws …

Conceptual Gerrymandering In Sffa And Some Thoughts On How It Enables The Case’S Weaponization, David Simson

Buffalo Law Review

This Article makes two main contributions at the intersection of Constitutional Law and critical analyses of race and racial (in)equality. First, and more narrowly, the Article provides an in-depth analysis and critique of the Supreme Court’s most recent affirmative action decision in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard (SFFA), specifically with respect to a crucial aspect of the case that has not been addressed in depth in other scholarship on the decision: how key opinions conceptualize “race” in their reasoning. The Article shows how the SFFA majority opinion and a concurring opinion by Justice Gorsuch incorporate multiple, and inconsistent, understandings …

Presumed Guilt: Epistemic Closure In Pregnancy Prosecutions, M. Eve Hanan

Buffalo Law Review

Criminal law and reproductive justice scholars are calling attention to the increase in prosecutions for pregnancy outcomes in the United States. Trace amounts of controlled substances in newborns are prosecuted as child abuse. Miscarriages are prosecuted as illegal abortions or homicides. This area of criminal law existed side-by-side with Roe v. Wade for late-term pregnancy outcomes. The Dobbs decision has further emboldened these prosecutions by removing the protections of the Due Process Clause from the pre-viability phase of the pregnancy.

Using a case study of a woman who was pressured to plead guilty to manslaughter and sentenced to eight years …

Front Matter, Buffalo Law Review

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Buffalo Law Review

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exercise As A Treatment For Depression And Anxiety Symptoms In College Students, Ashley J. Fountain

ATU Honors Projects

Anxiety and depression have become increasingly prevalent among college students, with rates rising to levels that demand urgent and accessible treatment alternatives. Traditional interventions such as psychotherapy and pharmacological treatments, while effective for many, present limitations including high cost, side effects, and barriers to access. This paper examines exercise as a holistic, evidence-based treatment modality for reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety in college students. Recent research demonstrates that aerobic exercise, resistance training, and yoga each produce meaningful physiological and psychological benefits through mechanisms involving neurotransmitter regulation, reduced cortisol levels, and enhanced self-esteem. Studies comparing exercise with antidepressant medications show …

Incidence And Management Of Adverse Events Associated With Tebentafusp Treatment In Metastatic Uveal Melanoma: Pooled Safety Analysis Of 410 Patients, Takami Sato, Marcus O. Butler, Sophie Piperno-Neumann, Jessica C. Hassel, Paul Nathan, Alexander N. Shoushtari, Piotr Rutkowski, Richard D. Carvajal, Jean-Francois Baurain, Max Schlaak, Josep M. Piulats, Ryan J. Sullivan, Sebastian Ochsenreither, Reinhard Dummer, John M. Kirkwood, Alexandra Ikeguchi, Anthony M. Joshua, Mark R. Middleton, Ramakrishna Edukulla, Constance Pfeiffer, Joseph J. Sacco

Kimmel Cancer Center Papers, Presentations, and Grand Rounds

PURPOSE: We conducted an integrated safety analysis from three clinical studies of tebentafusp, a first-in-class ImmTAC bispecific T-cell engager, which can redirect T cells to target glycoprotein 100-positive cells, in metastatic uveal melanoma.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: HLA-A*02:01-positive patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma enrolled in three clinical trials (IMCgp100-01, IMCgp100-102, and IMCgp100-202) who received ≥1 dose of tebentafusp were included. Safety data were pooled to evaluate the profile, onset, and management of treatment-related adverse events (TRAE). Adverse events of special interest included cytokine release syndrome (CRS), acute skin reactions (ASR), and liver function test elevations. Primary prophylaxis with medications was …

Effects Of Maternal Overnutrition And Metabolic Challenge In Adult Life On The Histological Integrity Of The Liver And Intestinal Epithelium In Rabbits, Lucía Carolina Cano, Erika Navarrete, Pedro Medina, Juan Pablo Ochoa-Romo, Georgina Díaz, Rodrigo Montúfar-Chaveznava, Rosa María Vigueras-Villaseñor, Ivette Caldelas

Artículos científicos

Introduction: Maternal overnutrition during critical stages of embryonic development has been implicated as a major determinant of developmental and metabolic disturbances in offspring. Current data concerning how perinatal exposure to high-fat and high-carbohydrate diets, followed by re-exposure in adulthood (metabolic challenge), affects the metabolic regulation and structural integrity of the liver and small intestine, key organs of the gut–liver axis (GLA), are limited. Methods: Female rabbits were fed either a standard diet (SD) or a high-fat and high-carbohydrate diet (HFCD) before mating and during gestation. The offspring on postnatal day 440 were challenged with an HFCD or SD for 30 …