What Happens When Mediation is Institutionalized?: To the Parties, Practitioners, and Host Institutions

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Association of American Law Schools presented a program, at the 1994 AALS Conference, on the institutionalization of mediation – through courtconnected programs and otherwise. The topic is an important one, because this phenomenon has become increasingly common in recent years. Moreover, the topic seemed especially appropriate for the 1994 program, since Florida – the host state for the conference – was one of the first states to adopt a comprehensive statute providing for court-ordered mediation (at the trial judge\u27s option) in civil disputes of all kinds. The move toward institutionalizing mediation has raised many questions, and this program was designed to highlight those questions, and provoke this discussion about them. The panel for the program was composed of mediation scholars, teachers and practitioners, from eight diverse jurisdictions around the country, with expertise on many different aspects of the institutionalization issue. The program was organized by Professor Baruch Bush (Program Chair), together with Professor Carol Liebman (Section Chair) and Dean James Alfini (Panel Moderator). This article presents an edited transcript of the panelists\u27 comments

Accountability and Transparency of Entrepreneurial Journalism: Unresolved ethical issues in crowdfunded journalism projects

Crowdfunding is a new business model in which journalists rely—and depend—on (micro-) payments by a large number of supporters to finance their reporting. In this form of entrepreneurial journalism the roles of publisher, fundraiser and journalist often overlap. This raises questions about conflicts of interest, accountability and transparency. The article presents the results of selected case studies in four different European countries—Germany (Krautreporter), Italy (Occhidellaguerra), the United Kingdom (Contributoria) and the Netherlands (De Correspondent)—as well as one US example (Kickstarter). The study used a two-step methodological approach: first a content analysis of the websites and the Twitter accounts with regard to practices of media accountability, transparency and user participation was undertaken. The aim was to investigate how far ethical challenges in crowdfunded entrepreneurial journalism are accounted for. Second, we present findings from semi-structured interviews with journalists from each crowdfunding. The study provides evidence about the ethical issues in this area, particularly in relation to production transparency and responsiveness. The study also shows that in some cases of crowdfunding (platforms), accountability is outsourced and implemented only through the audience participation

Adaptive Advantages of Carotenoid Pigments in Alpine and Subalpine Copepod Responses to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Induced Phototoxicity

Alpine zooplankton are exposed to a variety of stressors in their natural environment including ultraviolet radiation. Physiological coping mechanisms such as the accumulation of photoprotective compounds provide these zooplankton protection from many of these stressors. Elevated levels of carotenoid compounds such as astaxanthin have been shown to help zooplankton survive longer when exposed to ultraviolet radiation presumably due to the strong antioxidant properties of carotenoid compounds. This antioxidant capacity is important because it may ameliorate natural and anthropogenic stressor-induced oxidative stress. While previous researchers have shown carotenoid compounds impart increased resistance to ultraviolet radiation in populations of zooplankton, little work has focused on the toxicological implications of PAH induced phototoxicity on zooplankton containing high levels of carotenoid compounds. This thesis discusses research studying the role that carotenoid compounds play in reducing PAH induced phototoxicity. By sampling different lakes at elevations ranging from 9,500' to 12,700' in the front range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, copepod populations containing different levels of carotenoid compounds were obtained. These populations were then challenged with fluoranthene and ultraviolet radiation. Results discussed include differences in survival and levels of lipid peroxidation among populations exhibiting different levels of carotenoid compounds, and the toxicological and ecological implications of these results

2017: Lighting Up the Night

Drone technology is beginning to permeate many aspects of life in the modern world, and for good reason. Delivery drones can efficiently deliver packages better than any existing methods. Medical drones can reach emergency patients faster than any ambulance. Security drones can surveil areas more quickly and more thoroughly than a team of human guards. The advent of commercial and industrial uses for drones, however, begets the vital question of how can drones be used outside the workplace. Intel\u27s answer? Entertainment. Thus, the Intel Shooting StarTM drone was born, a quadcopter explicitly built for producing breathtaking aerial light shows similar in appearance to fireworks displays (Intel, n.d.). On October 7, 2016, 500 drones were used by Intel to set a Guinness World Record for the most Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) airborne simultaneously. More impressively, however, is that only one pilot and one laptop were used to guide the show (Cheung, 2017). This master computer uses Intel\u27s proprietary drone-piloting algorithm to marshall each drone to its designated place in an aerial image, and once the show is complete, to bring each safely back to earth. Our task is to develop a model to choreograph a drone light show with modeled flight paths for each drone that a similar \master computer would control. We, however, must tackle issues Intel did not need to consider during their drone displays: those of economy and efficiency, by optimizing both the number and the placement of drones. We wish to perform a drone show optimized for both resource and time efficiency, and thus, the number of drones used in the show will be kept to a minimum to lower cost. The travel time for each drone (from liftoff to formation, and from one formation to each subsequent formation) during the show will be minimized as well { the Shooting Star\u27s battery lasts for approximately twenty minutes, and hence the drone show must run safely inside of that time frame. And of course, the less time spent positioning drones, the more viewing time will be available for the show! During our light show, we will project the images of a dragon, a Ferris wheel, and our team number in the sky by creating corresponding sets of drone positions. However, the use of the model will not be limited to one show; in order to be of utility for future drone-show organizers, our model must be able to accept any image (given that there are enough drones available to properly display the image\u27s complexity) and convert it into a drone pattern. Our model must also take into account how wind affects drone flight performance. Based on our model\u27s optimized output, we can determine the number of drones our city must acquire to host our light show, and therefore the cost of staging the performance. We can also calculate the timing of the show, and any flight path adjustments necessitated by the wind. Using this information, we can then give the Mayor of our city an informed perspective of whether or not to pursue the option of a drone light show for our city\u27s annual festival this year. However, our model will not be limited for use on merely one occasion, in one city, and for one holiday. Quite the contrary, our model will be be implementable not only in our city, but cities around the globe to help establish drone shows as traditional holiday events, and to demonstrate that drones can be just as valuable for entertainment as they are for business

Federal Income Tax Developments: 1984

FEDERAL INCOME TAX DEVELOPMENTS: 1984 is the twelfth in a series of articles published at The University of Akron School of Law. In keeping with the established format, the scope of this survey is limited to selected substantive developments in the field of income taxation

Evaluating pesticides for their impact on beneficial organisms

NYS IPM Type: Project ReportAn assay to determine the toxic effects of commonly used pesticides on beneficial organisms is needed in order to assist growers in preserving natural enemy populations in the context of an IPM program

2017: From Sea to Shining Sea: Looking Ahead with the National Park Service

There is a natural inclination for humanity to view the Earth as our steadfast, never-changing home. After all, it seems as permanent as the ground beneath our feet. However, nothing could be further from the truth, especially in today’s rapidly changing climes. Global temperatures are on the rise, and with them comes an increase in sea levels, wildfires, and hurricanes, three serious, expensive issues. Unfortunately for the National Park Service (NPS), who guard ninety-seven coastal units, coastlines are especially vulnerable to such problems. Thus, the NPS must take extra precautions and expenditures to maintain and protect them. With limited budget, however, a critical problem presents itself: where exactly should these efforts be focused? To answer this question, our group developed a model addressing the issue of rising sea levels in the future for all five coastal parks in question: Acadia National Park, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Kenai Fjords National Park, Olympic National Park, and Padre Island National Seashore. Our model determines “high”, “medium”, and “low” thresholds for sea levels by drawing lines one-half standard deviation above and one-half below the mean, dividing the data roughly into thirds. It then uses an exponential moving average five years around every data point, which weighs sea level fluctuations as they occur. We linearly extrapolated the data 10, 20, 50, and 100 years into the future, and found that our results correlated extensively with existing research of ocean current behavior, confirming to us that results had sound basis in reality. We were also tasked with the creation of a climate-related vulnerability model to relay to the NPS through a scoring system the risk of climate-influenced damage to any given coastal unit over the next 50 years. The formula of our scoring system was inspired by an existing Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI). Although its name indicates similarity to own model, its purpose is in fact predicting people’s vulnerability to the climate. First of all, we changed the variables to four specific climate-related events found to be highly influential monetarily and in some instances, through lives lost, to National Parks and the nation as a whole: tropical storms, wildfires, lowering of air quality, and sea level. We then converted each of these events into scorable quantities, and through analysis of the past frequency and severity of these events, extrapolated the variable scores into the future using our own adapted model. These final scores would be beneficial to the NPS in determining the vulnerability of any given coastal unit to climate-related damage and expenditure many years into the future. Finally, we were tasked with recommending the NPS of where funding should be allotted to repair climate-related damage in the future, incorporating our vulnerability model. Aware of the Service’s sometimes limited financial resources, we incorporated visitor statistics into our recommendation model, to help them serve the greatest possible amount of people. Through a machine-learning algorithm, we incorporated all four variables present in our climate-related vulnerability model and correlated them with visitor count data over the past twenty years. The artificial intelligence program then built a predictive algorithm from the data to predict visitor count, which was a Gaussian process featuring a numerical vector, which was refined through repeated testing to 77% accuracy. Based on this algorithm, for the first ten years, the NPS should prioritize funding to Cape Hatteras, at twenty years should prioritize Acadia, and finally, at 50, should invest most heavily in Padre Island. The Service should certainly take these predictions into consideration to best honor the beautiful areas that they are charged to protect

Lunar science: The Apollo Legacy

A general review of lunar science is presented, utilizing two themes: a summary of fundamental problems relating to the composition, structure, and history of the moon and a discussion of some surprising, unanticipated results obtained from Apollo lunar science. (1) The moon has a crust of approximately 60-km thickness, probably composed of feldspar-rich rocks. Such rocks are exposed at the surface in the light-colored lunar highlands. Many highlands rocks are complex impact breccias, perhaps produced by large basin-forming impacts. Most highlands rocks have ages of ∼3.9 × 10^9 yr; the record of igneous activity at older times is obscured by the intense bombardment. The impact rate decreased sharply at 3.8–3.9 × 10^9 yr ago. The impact basins were filled by flows of Fe- and, locally, Ti-rich volcanic rocks creating the dark mare regions and providing the strong visual color contrast of the moon, as viewed from earth. Crustal formation has produced enrichments in many elements, e.g., Ba, Sr, rare earths, and U, analogous to terrestrial crustal rocks. Compared with these elements, relatively volatile elements like Na, K, Rb, and Pb are highly depleted in the source regions for lunar surface rocks. These source regions were also separated from a metal phase, probably before being incorporated into the moon. The physical properties of the lunar mantle are compatible with mixtures of olvine and pyroxene, although Ca- and Al-rich compositions cannot be ruled out. Deeper regions, below ∼1000 km, are probably partially molten. (2) Lunar rocks cooled in the presence of a magnetic field very much stronger than the one that exists today, owing either to dynamo action in an ancient molten core or to an external magnetization of the moon. Lunar soil properties cannot be explained strictly by broken-up local rocks. Distant impacts throw in exotic material from other parts of the moon. About 1% of the soil appears to be of meteoritic origin. Vertical mixing by impacts is important; essentially all material sampled from lunar cores shows evidence of surface residence. The surface layers of lunar material exposed to space contain a chemical record of implanted solar material (rare gases, H) and constituents of a lunar atmosphere (^(40)Ar, Pb). Large isotopic fractionation effects for O, Si, S, and K are present. Physical properties of the surface layers are dominated by radiation damage effects. Lunar rocks have impact craters (≤1 cm) produced by microgram-sized interplanetary particles. The contemporary micrometeorite flux may be much higher than is indicated by the microcrater densities, indicating time variations in the flux. Particle track studies on the returned Surveyor camera filter first showed that the Fe nuclei were preferentially enhanced in solar flares

What Happens When Mediation is Institutionalized?: To the Parties, Practitioners, and Host Institutions

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Association of American Law Schools presented a program, at the 1994 AALS Conference, on the institutionalization of mediation – through courtconnected programs and otherwise. The topic is an important one, because this phenomenon has become increasingly common in recent years. Moreover, the topic seemed especially appropriate for the 1994 program, since Florida – the host state for the conference – was one of the first states to adopt a comprehensive statute providing for court-ordered mediation (at the trial judge\u27s option) in civil disputes of all kinds. The move toward institutionalizing mediation has raised many questions, and this program was designed to highlight those questions, and provoke this discussion about them. The panel for the program was composed of mediation scholars, teachers and practitioners, from eight diverse jurisdictions around the country, with expertise on many different aspects of the institutionalization issue. The program was organized by Professor Baruch Bush (Program Chair), together with Professor Carol Liebman (Section Chair) and Dean James Alfini (Panel Moderator). This article presents an edited transcript of the panelists\u27 comments