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Maternal Personality, Stress, and Parenting Behaviors
No full textThe current study uses a sample of 35 mother-child dyads to examine the degree to which parenting stress and personality style correlate with parenting behaviors and features of dyadic interaction. Parenting stress was measured using the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1995) and personality was assessed using the NEO Five Factor Inventory-3 (McCrae & Costa, 2010). Mother-child interactions were coded using the Parent-Child Early Relational Assessment (Clark, 1985). Interactions between parenting stress, personality style, and parenting behaviors were explored as well. Extraversion was positively correlated with enthusiasm/joyfulness/mutual enjoyment, dyadic reciprocity, and overall adaptive parenting style. Parenting stress was negatively correlated with enthusiasm/joyfulness/mutual enjoyment and overall adaptive parenting style. Extraversion and conscientiousness were negatively correlated with parenting stress. The moderator effect of personality on the relationship between parenting stress and parenting behaviors was less significant than expected. However, neuroticism was found to moderate the relationship between stress and angry/hostile tone of voice used by the mothers. Implications of this study and areas of suggested further research are discussed
Reconceptualizing the Future of Environmental Law: The Role of Private Climate Governance
Get PDFThe title of this Symposium, Reconceptualizing the Future of Environmental Law, accurately captures the challenge facing environmental law scholars and policymakers in 2015. The success of environmental law in the future will not arise from doubling down on the approaches developed over the last 50 years. Instead, it will arise from our willingness to learn from the past without being bound by the conceptual frameworks that dominated the early development of the field.
In particular, a successful future for environmental law is more likely to emerge if we acknowledge that the environmental problems, policy plasticity, and regulatory institutions that shaped the early decades of the field are no longer dominant, and if we develop new responses that reflect the shifts that have occurred on each of these points. I begin by identifying several important shifts in environmental problems, policy plasticity, and institutions. I then explore how new conceptual frameworks--sometimes explicit and sometimes not-- are already leading to new responses to some of the most challenging environmental issues.
No environmental issue is more challenging than climate change, and physicist Jonathan Gilligan and I have argued for a conceptual shift that involves recognizing the opportunity to buy time with private governance. We have not argued that private governance is a complete response or that it is the only new approach to climate change, but we have asserted that private initiatives can achieve a private governance wedge--emissions reductions that grow each year and average a billion tons per year over the 2016-2025 period. By drawing on existing efficiency incentives and motivations to reduce corporate and household carbon emissions, private initiatives can buy time while national and international governmental processes are in gridlock. In addition, many of these initiatives can complement a carbon price after it is adopted. The challenge is to make the conceptual shift: to move beyond the early history of environmental law and recognize that environmental governance is not synonymous with public governance
Distributed, Nega-, and Reclaimed: Setting Expectations in the New Resource Base
Get PDFAt this point in time, environmental law faces the task of drawing a budget for living within our resource means, and this budget will be tightly stretched. It must provide energy, water, food, and materials to a growing population; it must cope with the depletion of formerly abundant resources; and it must act both to mitigate climate impacts and adapt to the changes already manifesting. To do this, the budgeting must consider resources and uses that have previously been considered insignificant and that have not received attention in terms of ownership, allocation, or governance. Thus, the future of environmental law will involve charting individual property expectations in previously unconsidered resources: society\u27s cast-offs, scraps, and leavings.
The history of environmental law has involved defining and refining expectations in property and resource use. Environmental law has addressed the resource impacts of development, set parameters for further resource development, and resolved conflicting uses or claims to resources. In each of these ways, environmental law has served to establish and adjust expectations. Thus, in a generalized sense, environmental law can be described as the governance of resource use with a particular attention to the impacts on the human and natural environment.
The future of environmental law will be a variation on this past. It will still involve defining and refining expectations, only this time for a fresh set of new resources, ripe to be utilized. Well, at least for a semi-fresh set of new-ish resources, but certainly ones that are ripe to be utilized. This emerging resource stock is cobbled from formerly insignificant discards and leftovers. For example, new resource stocks can be found in wastewater streams used as water and energy sources, roofs and backyards assembled as power and food production spaces, and foregone consumption considered to be an alternative to increased supply. Distributed generation, nega-watts, reclaimed sewage, conserved water, vacant-lot farming, and rooftop gardens: these are the new resource base, and a major role for environmental law will be in figuring out how to manage them for their maximum potential benefit
Determinants of Demand for Cable TV Services in the Era of Internet Communication Technologies
Get PDFThe rise of the Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as video-on-demand (VOD) services, is expected to have substantial impact on the entertainment industry. In particular, cable TV is likely to be one of the media channels most affected by the expansion and development of these new technologies. Given these changes and the fact that the signs of the cable TV viewership decline are starting to show, it is important to investigate the potential of the loss of competitive advantage of television programming services.
Most of the existing research on the topic focuses on the relationship between TV viewing and Internet penetration. However, economic evidence on the relationship between cable TV services and such ICTs as VOD services is limited. In this paper, we empirically investigate the determinants of the demand for cable TV services in the era of ICTs. Our main objective is to identify the relationship between cable TV and VOD substitute services at the aggregate national level as well as identify some of the mechanisms behind this relationship.
We conduct an observational study using a sample of the U.S. quarterly national-level data for years 2008-2015. The data on the number of Time Warner Cable (TWC) subscribers is used as a proxy for cable TV consumption, while the data on the number of Netflix subscribers is used as a proxy for VOD services consumption. We estimate several specifications of the OLS regressions controlling for own price, availability of related goods (VOD services, mobile phones, Internet), and income.
Our results contribute to the existing literature on the economics of entertainment by presenting evidence of substitution between the VOD services and cable TV services. More specifically, our estimates for the elasticity between TV and VOD services, obtained using first-differences OLS estimation, suggest that a 1 percent increase in the number of Netflix subscribers is associated with a 0.123 percent decrease in the number of TWC subscribers. This implies that providers are likely to benefit from focusing on offering extra value to consumers rather than trying to gain additional revenue through advertising. The results of the analysis also highlight that higher prices for cable TV services are likely to be interpreted by consumers as a signal for quality. More specifically, our estimates suggest that a 1 percent increase in own price is associated with 0.38 percent increase in the number of TWC subscribers. This implies that offering greater choice of programs and higher subscription prices might be the pricing strategy to increase revenues.
These findings provide a better understanding of the mechanisms behind consumer choice and decision-making processes. In turn, this understanding elicits valuable insights into television programming services revenue sustainability, and the competition of the providers of these services with the providers of the VOD services
Screen Time for Parents and Caregivers: Parental Screen Distraction and Parenting Perceptions and Beliefs
No full textIn recent years, the concept of screen time has become an increasingly salient topic in the media. The national conversation about screen time has raised public concerns regarding implications for children\u27s academic, emotional, and physical functioning. Less concern has been expressed over parents\u27 and caregivers\u27 screen time usage. As ownership of screened electronic devices, such as computers, smartphones, and tablets, increases due to accessibility and affordability, so does time associated with screens and the likelihood that individuals are distracted by these devices. As a result, caregivers and parents seem drawn to screened devices, which, in turn, may influence interactions with children. These phenomena support the need for research to investigate parents\u27 and caregivers\u27 levels of distraction while spending time with their charges, due to screened devices. This study examined aspects of parental screen time, child screen time, and parental screen distraction with regard to the importance that parents and caregivers place on parenting behaviors. The parent development theory (PDT) was used as the theoretical context for this study. Parental screen distraction (PSD) refers to the moments in which parents or caregivers are distracted from performing behaviors associated with the parent role due to engagement with a screened device. While the overarching focus of this study is on parents and parenting with regard to screen time, the study also includes caregivers who spend greater than 20 hours per week caring for children. Within the context of this study, both parent and non-parent caregivers are categorized as individuals who are responsible for performing behaviors associated with the parent role while caring for children. Therefore, parental screen time (PST) and PSD refers to the screen time use of both parents and caregivers. Specifically, this study examines the relationship among PST, child screen time, PSD, the importance parents and caregivers place on parenting behaviors, and demographic variables. The sample consisted of 93 parents and caregivers, and data was analyzed based on two questionnaires, the Screen Time Questionnaire (STQ), and the Parent Behavior Importance Questionnaire-Revised (PBIQ-R). Major findings of this study indicate: (1) a positive significant relationship between PST and child screen time, (2) a positive significant relationship between PST and PSD, (3) a negative relationship between PSD and responsivity, and (4) parent/caregiver education level and income significantly moderate the relationship between PST and PSD. The findings of this study highlight the presence of PSD and the relationship of PSD to lower levels of parental responsivity. As ownership of and dependence on screened devices continues to increase, further investigation is warranted to understand the role of screen time within the parent-child and caregiver-child relationship as well as the role that PSD may play on children\u27s development
Ratings Fetishism
Get PDFThe obsession with increasing the reputational rankings of American colleges and universities more detrimentally impacts race-based admissions policies than does Supreme Court doctrine. It is no secret that many schools inflate, misleadingly report, or falsify records in order to pander to rankings systems like U.S. News and World Report (“U.S. News”). These systems weigh a school’s mean standardized test scores (SAT and/or ACT) heavily as one of the factors for assigning a rank. Thus, the incentive among schools playing the ratings game is to admit students with the highest SAT scores. But, if one agrees with the data that underrepresented minorities as a group perform less well than their non-minority counterparts, it is, sadly, an understandable reality that schools focusing on gaming the U.S. News system are disinclined to admit underrepresented minority students. Consequently, ratings fetishism, an unreasonable obsession with high national rankings, is ruining diversity on our college campuses. I do not make these observations casually. There are countless examples of colleges and universities manipulating the data, or even worse, knowingly deceiving U.S. News in an effort to game the system
Contractual Excuse Under the CISG: Impediment, Hardship, and the Excuse Doctrines
Get PDFThis article will examine the law of excuse as espoused in the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It will examine the relevant case law applying the doctrine of impediment found in CISG Article 79. The question posed in this analysis is whether the word “impediment” relates only to the occurrences of force majeure, impossibility and frustration of purpose events or if it also includes changed circumstances, impracticability and hardship events. For purposes of simplicity, the first set of excuse or exemption doctrines will be analyzed under the heading of “impossibility” and the second set will be discussed under the heading of “hardship”.
The key issue to be explored in this article is the distinction between excuse requiring impossibility or frustration of contractual purpose and hardship as it relates to Article 79 of the CISG. These terms and doctrines have often been conflated. This is understandable given the number of such doctrines found in various national laws and international law instruments, such as impossibility, impracticability, frustration of purpose, force majeure or Act of God, hardship, change of circumstances, and so forth. The question posed is whether the impediment doctrine provides an exemption from liability only for “absolute” excuse (impossibility, force majeure) or if it also extends to the more liberal “relative” excuse doctrines (hardship, changed circumstances, impracticability).
Given the vagueness of Article 79’s use of the word impediment, its interpretation and application has had to be constructed anew. This has to, of course, be done with all CISG provisions under the autonomous interpretation mandate. However, the interpretation of the exemption of impediment is an especially difficult task given the context of the numerous excuse doctrines in the various national legal systems, as well as the conflation of different excuse doctrines within national legal systems. French law has the most form of excuse recognizing only force majeure events that make it impossible to perform; the United Kingdom’s law is slightly more liberal, adding the doctrine of frustration of purpose to the impossibility doctrine; and German law incorporates the more common civil law bifurcation of impossibility and hardship doctrines, while also recognizing frustration of purpose, as well as recognizing both physical and economic impossibility. The United States has a tripartite excuse regime involving impossibility, frustration, and impracticability.
Part II briefly examines the law of excuse in the German and American legal systems focusing on the German concept of changed circumstances and the American doctrine of impracticability, while Part III briefly reviews the law of excuse provided in the UNIDROIT’s Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) and the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL). The reviews in Parts II and III will set the context for analyzing the case law relating to CISG Article 79 that is undertaken in Part IV
Zoning for Solar Energy: Resource Guide
Get PDFThis document is designed to help New York State localities amend zoning and other land use regulations to permit the development of solar energy systems in their jurisdictions. While it applies to many types of solar energy systems, this resource guide focuses primarily on solar electric or photovoltaic (PV) systems. It begins by describing the local government’s role in land use planning and regulation. It then discusses the importance of defining all solar energy systems that a community wants to allow in existing zoning districts and shows how to incorporate those definitions in the zoning ordinance. Next, the guide explains how a municipality can amend zoning to permit these systems either as principal, secondary, accessory, or specially permitted land uses in existing zoning districts, as well as how to exempt certain systems from zoning altogether. The resource then explains how relevant bulk and area requirements must be amended to accommodate permitted solar energy systems. Subsequently, the guide discusses how to amend site plan requirements to include standards for solar energy systems, examines how local governments can modify environmental impact review under SEQRA, and considers the role of other local boards in streamlining the approval process for solar energy systems. Beyond permitting solar energy systems, the guide discusses ways to amend land use laws to either require or encourage them. Throughout, this document provides helpful resources and examples that communities can use when regulating to allow, encourage, or require various solar energy systems. Although land use terminology may vary by regional and jurisdictional practice, the examples generally represent approaches discussed throughout the guide. The examples are intended to be illustrative samples and are not intended to be an endorsement of the content
Land Use Planning for Solar Energy: Resource Guide
Get PDFThis document was created to help New York State localities develop and adopt solar friendly policies and plans. It begins by presenting the local government’s role in land use planning and regulation and introduces common characteristics of “solar friendly” communities. The resource then describes how municipalities should begin a solar energy initiative through an official policy statement that provides support for solar energy and that authorizes a task force to shepherd the process, appropriate studies, training programs for staff and board members, inter-municipal partnerships, and outside funding sources. Next, the document explains how municipalities should engage the entire community in the solar energy initiative process to ensure support for the initiative and its implementation. Finally, the resource presents local planning best practices that communities can incorporate into their comprehensive plans, subarea plans, or other plans. Throughout, this document provides helpful resources and examples that communities can use to develop effective solar energy policies and plans
