Narrative, Truth, and Trial

This Article critically evaluates the relationship between constructing narratives and achieving factual accuracy at trials. The story model of adjudication— according to which jurors process testimony by organizing it into competing narratives—has gained wide acceptance in the descriptive work of social scientists and currency in the courtroom, but it has received little close attention from legal theorists. The Article begins with a discussion of the meaning of narrative and its function at trial. It argues that the story model is incomplete, and that “legal truth” emerges from a hybrid of narrative and other means of inquiry. As a result, trials contain opportunities to promote more systematic consideration of evidence. Second, the Article asserts that, to the extent the story model is descriptively correct with respect to the structure of juror decision making, it also gives rise to normative concerns about the tension between characteristic features of narrative and the truth-seeking aspirations of trial. Viewing trials through the lens of narrative theory brings sources of bias and error into focus and suggests reasons to increase the influence of analytic processes. The Article then appraises improvements in trial mechanics—from prosecutorial discovery obligations through appellate review of evidentiary errors—that might account for the influence of stories. For example, a fuller understanding of narrative exposes the false assumption within limiting instructions that any piece of evidence exists in isolation. And to better inform how adjudicators respond to stories in the courtroom, the Article argues for modifying instructions in terms of their candor, explanatory content, and timing

LEVELS OF FEEDBACK IN PREPARATION FOR A STUDENT-LED CONFERENCING EVENT: A CASE STUDY OF ELEMENTARY STUDENTS\u27 EXPERIENCES

According to the literature on student achievement, the classroom teacher and effective feedback are two of the most influential factors that affect students’ performance (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). Teacher feedback is an effective and efficient instructional strategy that can bridge the gap between a student’s actual level of understanding and the level required to become independently successful. There are multiple types and levels of feedback that teachers may employ to support students’ work. It is important that a teacher utilizes various levels of feedback, particularly levels that pertain to the task (FT), the process (FP), and student regulation (FR) skills to further student academic progress. The teacher and student interact in a two-way dialogue loop that furthers the student toward writing proficiency. According to Hattie and Timperley (2007) the most effective feedback occurs when students simultaneously receive information e students to use internal assists (FR) and end the loop with another (FT) comment. This instrumental case study focused on how a group of military-connected 2nd grade students negotiated the various kinds of feedback that were provided to them as part of the Student-Led Conferencing activities in their second-grade writing classes. Among the case research questions, I examined were: What types of feedback are used and for what instructional purposes? How do students respond to and /or use this feedback? What are the implications for Student-Led Conferencing for both the student participants and their teachers who use feedback to guide them in preparing for SLCs? In addition to the second-grade writing teacher, the participants in the study consisted of five military-connected students from a rural area in a southeastern state located adjacent to a large military installation. The results of this study demonstrate the importance of a teacher’s awareness of the different levels of feedback (FT, FP, FR, FS) and when to use each type strategically to support a student\u27s ability to write independently at a proficient level. Findings showed multiple examples of the teacher’s use of the various levels of feedback over different writing content lessons and in various types of interactions with students that improved their SLC products. The case analysis also identified several processes that describe how these young students negotiate feedback. These processes involved collaborating, consulting and conferring within conversations with the teacher and other students. The implications for the findings from this study inform specific teacher knowledge on the use and effects of feedback on student progress in the Student-Led conferencing context. The results may also be used to provide direction for districts to provide professional development to instruct teachers how to effectively use the four levels of teacher feedback. Strategically deployed feedback fostered student progress and prepared students to share their achievement during a Student-Led Conference

Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity

New Economic Analysis of Law: Beyond Technocracy and Market Design

This special issue on New Economic Analysis of Law features illuminating syntheses of social science and law. What would law and economics look like if macroeconomics were a concern of scholars now focused entirely on microeconomics? Do emerging online phenomena, such as algorithmic pricing and platform capitalism, promise to perfect economic theories of market equilibrium, or challenge their foundations? How did simplified economic models gain ideological power in policy circles, and how can they be improved or replaced? This issue highlights scholars whose work has made the legal academy more than an “importer” of ideas from other disciplines—and who have, instead, shown that rigorous legal analysis is fundamental to understanding economic affairs.The essays in this issue should help ensure that policymakers’ turn to new economic thinking promotes inclusive prosperity. Listokin, Bayern, and Kwak have identified major aporias in popular applications of law and economics methods. Ranchordás, Stucke, and Ezrachi have demonstrated that technological fixes, ranging from digital ranking and rating systems to artificial intelligence-driven personal assistants, are unlikely to improve matters unless they are wisely regulated. McCluskey and Rahman offer a blueprint for democratic regulation, which shapes the economy in productive ways and alleviates structural inequalities. Taken as a whole, this issue of Critical Analysis of Law shows that legal thinkers are not merely importers of ideas and models from economics, but also active participants, with a great deal to contribute to social science research

Survey of the State of the Art in Natural Language Generation: Core tasks, applications and evaluation

This paper surveys the current state of the art in Natural Language Generation (NLG), defined as the task of generating text or speech from non-linguistic input. A survey of NLG is timely in view of the changes that the field has undergone over the past decade or so, especially in relation to new (usually data-driven) methods, as well as new applications of NLG technology. This survey therefore aims to (a) give an up-to-date synthesis of research on the core tasks in NLG and the architectures adopted in which such tasks are organised; (b) highlight a number of relatively recent research topics that have arisen partly as a result of growing synergies between NLG and other areas of artificial intelligence; (c) draw attention to the challenges in NLG evaluation, relating them to similar challenges faced in other areas of Natural Language Processing, with an emphasis on different evaluation methods and the relationships between them.Comment: Published in Journal of AI Research (JAIR), volume 61, pp 75-170. 118 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Chronic crisis and the psychosocial in Central Greece

In Central Greece, the 2009/10 economic crisis has lost its eventedness, with crisis becoming a chronic condition with its own set of temporal rhythms and orientations. Even with Greece officially ‘out’ of crisis, local vernaculars of captivity have come to the fore as people relate to lives deemed without a future, feelings of stuckedness, futility, and an intimate uncomfortable comfort with an endemic condition. As the rupture of crisis becomes a chronic state, people report experiencing a form of societal Stockholm Syndrome, a profound familiarity with routinized axiomatic violence. Contributing to emergent debates on chronic crisis, the psychosocial, and the aesthetics of captivity, societal Stockholm Syndrome provides an alternative framework to understand lives trapped in the spin-cycle of seemingly permanent crisis.Publisher PD

Chronic crisis and the psychosocial in central Greece

In Central Greece, the 2009/10 economic crisis has lost its eventedness, with crisis becoming a chronic condition with its own set of temporal rhythms and orientations. Even with Greece officially ‘out’ of crisis, local vernaculars of captivity have come to the fore as people relate to lives deemed without a future, feelings of stuckedness, futility, and an intimate uncomfortable comfort with an endemic condition. As the rupture of crisis becomes a chronic state, people report experiencing a form of societal Stockholm Syndrome, a profound familiarity with routinized axiomatic violence. Contributing to emergent debates on chronic crisis, the psychosocial, and the aesthetics of captivity, societal Stockholm Syndrome provides an alternative framework to understand lives trapped in the spin-cycle of seemingly permanent crisis

Computer Architecture in Industrial, Biomechanical and Biomedical Engineering

This book aims to provide state-of-the-art information on computer architecture and simulation in industry, engineering, and clinical scenarios. Accepted submissions are high in scientific value and provide a significant contribution to computer architecture. Each submission expands upon novel and innovative research where the methods, analysis, and conclusions are robust and of the highest standard. This book is a valuable resource for researchers, students, non-governmental organizations, and key decision-makers involved in earthquake disaster management systems at the national, regional, and local levels

Emotions, Intuitions and Risk Perception in Critical Care

The theory of decision-making as it applies to bioethics and healthcare assumes a rational decision maker: someone who knows all his alternatives, has clear preferences, can rank and weigh risks and benefits of an intervention, and always acts in his own best interests. However, the growing body of research from the field of decision science shows that, in reality, such a purely rational decision maker does not exist. Instead, patients are rational within personal or environmental constraints such as uncertainty or ambiguity in which non-rational approaches such as emotion and intuition are instrumental. This issue is particularly important in critical care. To ensure that patients receive the end-of-life care that they want, especially considering the increase in futile care, proper risk communication is necessary. While the move from paternalism to the current emphasis on patient empowerment and shared decision-making means that patients and surrogates want comprehensive and understandable information about their conditions and treatment in order to participate fully in decisions about their care, emotions complicate this decision-making. Though there is a great deal of empirical research on emotions and risk perception, there is a lack of philosophical research on this topic, especially when it comes to futility considerations in critical care. This research asserts that emotions should be considered a necessary component of ethical assessment of risk and communication about risk, especially in the field of critical care. It explores the existing literature on how people employ emotions and deliberation in their decision-making, and it questions the existing bias among normative scholars that decisions resulting from deliberation are inherently better or superior to those grounded in intuition. Furthermore, this research attempts to determine the value of autonomy in designing health policies grounded in behavioral economics. While providers want patients to make decisions that promote their own interests, this task is rarely achieved when patients are left alone to make important decisions. This research questions whether providers should let their patients make decisions that divert them from their own health goals or intervene by actively directing patients toward choices that are most likely to promote their goals

Personalization in cultural heritage: the road travelled and the one ahead

Over the last 20 years, cultural heritage has been a favored domain for personalization research. For years, researchers have experimented with the cutting edge technology of the day; now, with the convergence of internet and wireless technology, and the increasing adoption of the Web as a platform for the publication of information, the visitor is able to exploit cultural heritage material before, during and after the visit, having different goals and requirements in each phase. However, cultural heritage sites have a huge amount of information to present, which must be filtered and personalized in order to enable the individual user to easily access it. Personalization of cultural heritage information requires a system that is able to model the user (e.g., interest, knowledge and other personal characteristics), as well as contextual aspects, select the most appropriate content, and deliver it in the most suitable way. It should be noted that achieving this result is extremely challenging in the case of first-time users, such as tourists who visit a cultural heritage site for the first time (and maybe the only time in their life). In addition, as tourism is a social activity, adapting to the individual is not enough because groups and communities have to be modeled and supported as well, taking into account their mutual interests, previous mutual experience, and requirements. How to model and represent the user(s) and the context of the visit and how to reason with regard to the information that is available are the challenges faced by researchers in personalization of cultural heritage. Notwithstanding the effort invested so far, a definite solution is far from being reached, mainly because new technology and new aspects of personalization are constantly being introduced. This article surveys the research in this area. Starting from the earlier systems, which presented cultural heritage information in kiosks, it summarizes the evolution of personalization techniques in museum web sites, virtual collections and mobile guides, until recent extension of cultural heritage toward the semantic and social web. The paper concludes with current challenges and points out areas where future research is needed