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The Rise and Fall of the E-Book: How E-books Became a Losing Game for Publishers and How to Change the Score
No full textThe Impact of New Forms of Technology on the Curation, Creation, and Engagement of the Content in Young Adult Publishing.
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An investigation of primary and secondary teachers\u27 beliefs in the usefulness of data-driven decision-making
No full textData-driven decision-making (DDDM) has increased in schools and districts at a rapid pace. The teacher’s role in DDDM has changed due to the increased accountability requirements set by the federal government. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to examine the relationship among teacher’s characteristics and teacher’s beliefs regarding the use of DDDM in their instructional practice. The study investigated the types of data teachers find most useful in making instructional decisions, the ways teacher’s make decisions based on the data and its support systems, and the data-driven culture of their individual schools. McLeod’s (2006) Statewide Data-Driven Readiness Study: Teacher’s Survey was used to assess the teacher’s beliefs about the data-driven readiness of their schools. This study addressed teachers in a small urban school district in the southern portion of New York State. The data for this quantitative study was collected via an online survey sent to 329, K-12 teachers. Each teacher responded to a five-point Likert scale indicating to what degree they agreed or disagreed with statements on three constructs 1) assessments, 2) data, and 3) data-driven culture. The constructs were further divided into seven factors that were analyzed to determine the relationship between New York state assessments, other yearly assessments, common periodic assessments, other periodic assessments, acting on data, support systems, and data-driven culture. The findings indicate that teachers that participated in the study believe their schools utilize data to make instructional decisions. Statistical significances were found in the cross tabulation analyses. Further analysis did indicate that there is a significant correlation between primary school and secondary school teachers when comparing high-stakes assessments. The research also indicates that teachers are using data to inform their instructional decisions to the degree that is it useful. Lastly, the research indicates that teachers need to be provided with access to the data, its’ support systems and provided professional development on how to analyze the data more effectively
Circuit Splits and Empiricism in the Supreme Court
Get PDFThis Article demonstrates, empirically rather than merely in theory, how a failure to do so leads to unreliable conclusions concerning the relationship between the Supreme Court and the circuit courts of appeal. Specifically, commentators routinely misapply facially accurate raw data regarding the rate at which the Court reverses circuit court decisions to support unreliable conclusions regarding the comparative degree of accord between the Court and individual circuits. Commentators and the popular press then employ these unreliable conclusions to draw unsupported inferences regarding the reasons for supposed discord between the Court and the circuits, and to urge fundamental institutional reforms ranging from dividing circuits to creating intermediate levels of judicial review.
Part II of this Article provides context for this Study by reviewing the principal ways in which empiricists employ raw data and inquiry-based analysis to study Supreme Court review practices. Part III examines how raw data and inquiry-based analysis apply to the question of Supreme Court/circuit court accord, explains how circuit splits and other factors affect apparent rates of accord, and distinguishes simple Supreme Court case disposition data (“affirm/reverse” rates, which do not account for circuit splits) from more comprehensive “approve/abrogate” rates (which do account for circuit splits). Part IV defines the two datasets this Article uses to compare affirm/reverse rates to approve/abrogate rates, and outlines the methods and parameters of the Study. Part V elaborates the Study’s findings regarding the differences between affirm/reverse rates and approve/abrogate rates, demonstrates that affirm/reverse rates do not reliably reflect the degree to which the Court agrees with the circuit courts of appeal, either in the aggregate, or on a circuit-by-circuit comparative basis, and considers what these data suggest about other variables, such as issue disparity, that may fundamentally impact Supreme Court/circuit court accord. Part VI summarizes these conclusions, makes recommendations regarding the interpretation and application of Supreme Court review data, and identifies areas for further study
The Insufficiency of the Law Surrounding Food Allergies
Get PDFThis paper proceeds in five parts. First, I will give an overview of food allergies. The second section will discuss legal protections at the federal level, including the ADA and other specific federal laws that are aimed at food allergies. The third section will discuss legal protections at the state level, including state laws directed at school districts and state laws directed at restaurants. The fourth section will discuss actions by the private/non-profit sector. The final section of my paper will discuss further necessary legislative changes for people with food allergies
A security risk perception model for the adoption of mobile devices in the healthcare industry
No full textThe widespread adoption and use of mobile devices in medical institutions, while beneficial, can also create security concerns for healthcare practitioners: physicians, nurses, information technology (IT) administrators, and healthcare management. To understand how healthcare practitioners perceive the security risks associated with mobile devices, the author developed a research model. This model suggests that a healthcare practitioner’s security perception is related to multiple subjective beliefs which could indirectly impact their behavior intentions when using the devices and adopting security controls in the workplace. Furthermore, the research studied the differences in perception among healthcare practitioners when mobile devices are provided either by healthcare institutions, Hospital-Provided-Devices, (HPD) or by themselves, Bring-Your-Own-Devices (BYOD). The study incorporates mixed research by layering two different methods. First, using quantitative research, the author conducted an empirical study of a proposed model, recruiting 264 healthcare practitioners from three hospitals and its affiliated clinics to participate in a written survey. Second, using a post-survey qualitative interview, the study constructed open-ended questions to investigate the safeguard cost of using mobile devices to access medical information. Through the empirical study, the researcher discovered that the factors that impact the healthcare practitioner’s behavior depend on how the mobile devices are provided. The results provide an insight into how mobile devices are used in the healthcare industry
Proactive Natural Disaster Recovery and Resilience in the Northeast: Should Governments Exercise Buyout Programs and, if Necessary, Eminent Domain, to Prevent Disaster?
Get PDFIn light of the devastation left behind by the three most recent natural disasters in the northeast region—Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and Superstorm Sandy—local and state governments are now implementing “buyout programs” in order to protect the future of beachfront and flood-prone communities. These programs may not be a perfect solution, so, while positions differ on whether to pursue taking private properties by use of eminent domain, it may be a favorable option in order to attain the ultimate goal of safety and resilience against future disaster. Section II of this paper will analyze the background and impacts that Irene, Lee, and Sandy left on the Northeast. A factual layout of these disasters’ damages, causalities, and other particulars is essential to properly understanding the need for appropriate relief functionality. Next, Section III will define general legal principles and changes that have been made in effort to provide safer communities in anticipation of natural disasters. The fourth section will analyze specific state’s buyout programs as a form of disaster relief, which includes an inquiry into their functions, funding, and options available to property owners. Section V will discuss the government’s power of eminent domain and introduce it as a promising option to achieve the goals that the buyout programs may not have the ability or authority to reach, as well as provide examples of where and how it has been used. Next, Section VI will outline the beneficial aspects of eminent domain as opposed to the more commonly known negative connotations associated with the principle. In conclusion, Section VII will discuss how eminent domain could positively affect disaster prone areas, despite government hesitance to use it in fear that the public will view their actions as an abuse of authority
The Egyptian Coup, the United States, and a Call to Strengthen the Rule of Law and Diplomacy Rather Than Military Counter-Terrorism
Get PDFThis article examines from a legal and historical perspective (a) the United States’ implicit ratification of the Egyptian military’s overthrow of the first fairly and freely elected Egyptian president and (b) how the perceived U.S. support for the coup contributes to Islamic terrorism.
To guarantee that oil has been readily available (and during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism), the U.S. has supported secular, authoritarian regimes in the Islamic world, including the House of Saud in Saudi Arabia, the Shah of Iran, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and, initially, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, not to mention autocratic leaders of the tiny, oil-rich Gulf states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. This history and U.S.’s implicit ratification of the Egyptian coup and the military’s violent repression of the Muslim Brotherhood marginalizes Islamic moderates, strengthens the extremists, and sends the unmistakable message to Islamic fundamentalists that they cannot win by the ballot box, but only by violence. (Since the coup, terrorist acts in Egypt have increased exponentially.)
Revolutionary developments in international law since the end of World War II may help guide United States and its allies towards fashioning a counter-terrorism policy and practice relying less on armed force and more on diplomacy and law enforcement. After 1945, the international community has recognized human rights and outlawed torture, extrajudicial killing of a state’s own nationals, systematic racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, aggressive warfare, annexation, and a state’s acquisition of new colonies. The international community is now also moving to outlaw military overthrow of democratically elected leaders.
What is usually left out of discussions on Islamic terrorism is that Russia and European nations colonized almost all Muslim countries. This colonization almost without exception led to exploitation of these countries, discrimination against Muslims, and to a conflict between secularists and Islamic fundamentalists. Although the U.S. had never colonized an Islamic nation, U.S. policies and practices since World War II, not to mention its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, led the U.S. in effect to assume the mantle of the former European colonial powers.
Granted these examples of colonization and invidious discrimination generally took place before the international community declared them illegal, and international law applies only prospectively, not retrospectively. African-Americans, however, had suffered under the “separate but equal doctrine” before the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 declared the doctrine unconstitutional. Likewise, the pain, humiliation, and resentment engendered by conquest, colonization, and accompanying racial discrimination had been just as sharply felt by the people experiencing these practices before the international community formally outlawed them. Enlarging on the theme in my book, United States, International Law, and the Struggle against Terrorism (Routledge 2011), the article contends that Russia and the West (including Europe and the U.S.) have a moral, if not strictly legal, obligation to make reparation by fostering democratic institutions, the rule of law, and international human rights in the Islamic world.
Implicitly ratifying the coup and the Egyptian military’s extreme violence in putting down protest eviscerates this final objective. If we are serious about reducing the threat of Islamic terrorism, we, with our European and other allies, have to stop applying a double standard to Arabs and Muslims, including their fundamentalists, and, instead, have to recognize and affirmatively address the suffering all peoples in the Middle East have experienced