It Is Emphatically the Province and Duty of State Courts to Say What Tort Law Is

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2011 decision in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, consumers of generic prescription drugs suffering from unwarnedof side effects largely remain without an avenue of legal recourse due to their inability to sue their own manufacturers. But in the pursuit for legal redress, some generic plaintiffs have pursued a narrow window of liability by bringing failure-to-warn claims, sounding in negligence, against the manufacturer responsible for producing the brand-name equivalent of the generic drug. Such claims rest on the rationale that the sui generis federal regulatory scheme governing the prescription drug industry furnishes an inextricable nexus between the brand-name manufacturer and generic-drug user such that it generates a negligence duty of care between them. The case law on this duty question remains fractured. Until late 2017, the majority of courts confronting the duty issue ruled for the brand-name defendant and held no duty as a matter of law. However, beginning in December of 2017, two landmark decisions by the California and Massachusetts supreme courts, in support of duty, have called for a reexamination of settled case law and, accordingly, given new hope to the generic-drug user’s pursuit of legal remedy. In light of these recent developments, this Note seeks to equip future courts confronting the duty question with a functional understanding of the considerations that lie on both sides of the duty inquiry. In addition, this Note proposes a remedial position that incorporates both the policy concerns cutting against duty and the doctrinal considerations undergirding it. At its core, this Note argues that doctrine demands a duty be recognized and, further, that courts have the core institutional competence to craft tort law in ways that will avert ruinous public policy consequences. In making this argument, this Note conveys a fighting message to courts: where tort doctrine says a duty of care exists, courts should endeavor to give effect to that duty

Crafting a rich and personal blending learning environment: an institutional case study from a STEM perspective

Institutional pressures to make optimal use of lecture halls and classrooms can be powerful motivators to identify resources to develop technology enhanced learning approaches to traditional curricula. From the academic’s perspective, engaging students in active learning and reducing the academic workload are important and complementary drivers. This paper presents a case study of a curriculum development exercise undertaken in a STEM subject area at a research-intensive UK university. A multi-skilled team of academics and learning designers have worked collaboratively to build this module which will be realised as a mix of online and face to face activities. Since the module addresses professional issues, a strong emphasis is being placed on establishing authentic learning activities and realistic use of prominent social tools.The learning designers are working for a cross-institutional initiative to support educational innovations; therefore it is important to carefully document the development process and to identify reusable design patterns which can be easily explained to other academics.<br/

The shudder of a cinephiliac idea? Videographic film studies practice as material thinking

Long after the advent of the digital era, while most university-based film studies academics still choose to publish their critical, theoretical and historical research in conventional written formats, a small but growing number of scholars working on the moving image have begun to explore the online publication possibilities of the digital video essay. This multimedia form has come to prominence in recent years in much Internet-based cinephile and film critical culture. In this article, I will consider, above all from a personal perspective looking back at two of the sixty or so videos that I have made, some of the possibilities that these processes offer for the production of new knowledge, forged out of the conjunction of the film object(s) to be studied, digital technologies of reproduction and editing tools, and the facticity of the researcher(s). I will argue that digital video is usefully seen not only as a promising communicative tool with different affordances than those of written text, but also as an important emergent cultural and phenomenological field for the creative practice of our work as film scholars

Initial Evaluation of Accessibility and Design Awareness with 3-D Immersive Environments

This paper describes an effort to build and evaluate the effectiveness of an immersive 3-D visualization system to help increase the awareness that students have when designing software that has a high level of accessibility for the differently abled. The demonstration utilizes an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment in which we simulated two types of colorblindness in a generally familiar environment. We report on the initial trial of this tool and the results of student surveys designed to assess impact on student perception and understanding and demonstrate that the use of virtual environments can give students greater empathy for individuals with visual impairments

Business Communication in Corporate Branding on Social Media

This qualitative study on Business Communication in Corporate Branding on Social Media explores diverse communication strategies employed by companies to build and maintain their brand identity on various social media platforms. The research, employing a purposive sampling strategy, engages professionals from diverse industries through in-depth semi-structured interviews and content analysis of corporate social media posts. The findings indicate a dynamic spectrum of communication approaches, including promotional content, interactive campaigns, and informative posts. Challenges in maintaining consistency across platforms emerge, emphasizing the need for adaptable strategies. Visual elements play a significant role, with images and videos serving as powerful tools for conveying brand messages. Crisis management on social media is identified as a crucial aspect, prompting the need for proactive strategies during crises. Employee advocacy programs prove instrumental in amplifying brand messages, contributing to a more authentic brand image. Positive consumer perceptions and loyalty are linked to engaging content and transparent communication. Cultural nuances in communication strategies and the identification of long-term trends and shifts underscore the importance of adaptive and culturally sensitive approaches. These findings provide valuable insights for businesses navigating the dynamic landscape of social media branding, offering practical implications for optimizing communication strategies and fostering positive corporate brand images

Demanding by Design: Supporting Effortful Communication Practices in Close Personal Relationships

The investment of effort into personal communication can be highly meaningful to people, and has particular significance for the mediation of close relationships. This paper presents qualities of effort investment that are seen to be valuable. Furthermore, we consider how these qualities might sensitise designers of communication technologies to the meaningfulness of effort. We report a qualitative study focusing on individual descriptions of meaningful effort invested into everyday correspondence. We encapsulate our findings in the form of five qualities that characterise valued effort: discretionary investment, personal craft, focused time, responsiveness to the recipient, and challenge to a sender’s capacities. Drawing on ideas generated in brainstorming sessions, we present two illustrative concepts for new communication technologies, highlighting how our findings can guide the creation of designed artefacts