7482 research outputs found
Sort by
Managing Systemic Risk in Legal Systems
No full textarticle published in law journalThe American legal system has proven remarkably robust even in the face vast and often tumultuous political, social, economic, and technological change. Yet our system of law is not unlike other complex social, biological, and physical systems in exhibiting local fragility in the midst of its global robustness. Understanding how this “robust yet fragile” (RYF) dilemma operates in legal systems is important to the extent law is expected to assist in managing systemic risk — the risk of large local or even system-wide failures — in other social systems. Indeed, legal system failures have been blamed as partly responsible for disasters such as the recent financial system crisis and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. If we cannot effectively manage systemic risk within the legal system, however, how can we expect the legal system to manage systemic risk elsewhere?
This Article employs a complexity science model of the RYF dilemma to explore why systemic risk persists in legal systems and how to manage it. Part I defines complexity in the context of the institutions and instruments that make up the legal system. Part II defines the five dimensions of robustness that support functionality of the legal system: (1) reliability; (2) efficiency; (3) scalability; (4) modularity, and (5) evolvability. Part III then defines system fragility, examining the internal and external constraints that impede legal system robustness and the fail-safe system control strategies for managing their effects. With those basic elements of the RYF dilemma model in place, Part IV defines systemic risk, exploring the paradoxical role of increasingly organized complexity brought about by fail-safe strategies as a source of legal system failure.
There is no way around the RYF dilemma — some degree of systemic risk is inherent in any complex adaptive system — but the balance between robustness and fragility is something we can hope to influence. To explore how, Part V applies the RYF dilemma model to a concrete systemic risk management context — oil drilling in the deep Gulf of Mexico. The legal regime governing offshore oil exploration and extraction has been blamed as contributing to the set of failures that led to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon spill and is at the center of reform initiatives. Using this case study, I argue that the RYF dilemma model provides valuable insights into how legal systems fail and how to manage legal systemic risk
Vanderbilt Hustler; Vol. 125 Iss. 49 January 15, 2014
No full textThe official student newspaper at Vanderbilt University
Reading and Adapting Texts to Screenplays to Improve Literacy Motivation in High School Students
No full textTeaching and Learning Department capstone projectAdolescents in the United States lag behind much of the world in reading achievement (Bozack, 2011). Researchers find that personal and situational interest acting together increase reading achievement in adolescents. In this paper, I make the case that a reading curriculum incorporating film can contribute to improved reading motivation. It can do this by both acting as a bridge to printed texts and by promoting seven principles of reading motivation through students’ personal interest in film and their situational interest in film-based projects. Teachers can work around the budgetary and time constraints of film making by offering students the 'hands-on' experience of screenwriting, which can help students reinforce their reading and learning. I hope that educators can use the information on reading motivation and film in the classroom and the recommendations on having students adapt texts to screenplays in order to argue for and to begin analyzing, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating curricula that incorporate film-based projects, especially screenplays, for improving the literacy motivation in their students.Vanderbilt UniversityDepartment of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen
Psychological Predictors of Athletic Performance: Emotional Intelligence, Coping Style, and Mental Toughness
No full textThe present study examined the psychological predictors of success as they relate to performance levels. To this end, study 1 was conducted investigating the foremost psychological constructs athletes employ while in a competitive environment. Qualitative questions were asked to a sample of collegiate athletes and after the analysis of their responses, the emerging psychological constructs as potential predictors of performance were emotional intelligence, coping style, and mental toughness. These three constructs formed the basis of study 2, in which the three constructs were hypothesized to be predictors of performance. Measures of each construct were taken along with measures of performance. They were then analyzed to assess any significant correlations or interactions between them. Results indicated only a slight number of significant findings, failing to support the main hypothesis, despite previous literature indicating that these three constructs have a mediating effect on performance.Vanderbilt UniversityPsychologyCollege of Arts and ScienceThesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Sciences Under the Direction of Dr. Craig Smith and Dr. Leslie Kirb
Phil Ackerman-Lieberman on Jews, Muslims, and Economic Life in Medieval Egypt
No full textIn this podcast, Chris Benda, theological librarian at Vanderbilt Divinity Library, interviews Professor Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman about his book The Business of Identity: Jews, Muslims, and Economic Life in Medieval Egypt
Teachers’ and Administrators’ Perceptions of Parental Involvement Practices of African American Parents in Urban Schools
No full textTeaching and Learning Department Capstone ProjectDepartment of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen
Bridging the Digital Divide: Using Video Games to Enhance Science Learning
No full textTeaching and Learning Department Capstone Project.This paper explores the affordances of digital video games in the learning of science amid a changing learner demographic. Current research in this area is largely focused on motivational aspects of video games. It is desirable, however, to investigate the effects of video games on learning of curricular content beyond mere engagement in the science classroom. Anchoring on diSessa’s (1993) “knowledge-in-pieces” model of conceptual change, it is argued that well-designed video games are primed to provide the bridge between conceptual learning in science and the motivation to engage in scientific content. Interviews conducted with 21 students from a preliminary field study of EPIGAME – a physics video game played by Grade 9 students from a public high school that explores Newton’s laws of motion, suggest that apart from motivating students to engage in the learning of scientific content, video games can impart curricular content if designed correctly and used with appropriate instructional strategies. However, the data also suggest that the changing expectations of learners provide a design challenge to educational video game designers.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen
Critically Examining the Discourse of Urban Asian American and Pacific Islander Achievement
No full textTeaching and Learning Department Capstone projectThe practice of critical discourse analysis examines the relationship between language, institutions, and power. This capstone essay critically examines the bimodal, culture-bound, racialized discourses to describe both high and low academic achievement in urban Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students and institutionally position them using deterministic and oversimplistic stereotypes in school and society. As it currently stands, the discourse of urban AAPI education relies on dichotomous identities of the model minority or the urban delinquent to explain achievement. These identities are embedded in racializing discourses that are critiqued for emphasizing anthropological explanations of culture clash and assimilation-opposition typologies. The underlying ideologies, pervasiveness in urban school culture, and disempowering impacts of this discursive positioning on the racial and academic identity development of urban AAPI youth are explored. Furthermore, culturally responsive practices are proposed as potential teaching strategies to create dynamic, diversified discourses that accurately represent urban AAPI academic experiences.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen
CAPSTONE ESL Portfolio
No full textTeaching and Learning Department capstone projectThis ESL Portfolio demonstrates my competence in teacher knowledge of how to best
serve English Language Learners (ELLs) in the United States in a public school system. I reflect upon the knowledge and practices that an effective ELL teacher needs to possess and carry out in order to optimize an equal opportunity for ELLs in the public school system.
The portfolio is consisted of three parts: 1) philosophy of teaching 2) showcase of
artifacts and 3) reflection on future practices. In the first part, I synthesize across Vygotsky’s social historical theory, Gee’s situated learning and Discourse, as well as Phelan et al.’s boundary crossing theory to develop my own coherent philosophy of teaching to ELLs in public schools in the Unites States. In the second part, I reflect on the artifacts that I have created during my studies at Peabody College, and align them with the TESOL/NCATE Standards to show my competence in the domains of language, culture, planning, assessing, and professionalism. Each domain is illustrated with 1-3 artifacts, with the analysis focusing on four main aspects of teaching: learners and learning, the learning environment, curriculum, and assessment. In the third part, I reflect on my own learning at Peabody College as a pre-service ELL teacher, and critically think about the adaptations I would make in my own classroom based on the current issues as well as my own philosophy of teaching.Department of Teaching and LearningPeabody College of Education and Human Developmen
