Evaluation of E-Learning Lessons for Strengthening Early Childhood Practitioner Use of Family Capacity-Building Practices

Findings from a case study field-test evaluation of e-learning lessons for promoting early childhood intervention practitioners’ understanding and use of family capacity-building practices are described. Participants were two early childhood program directors, two early childhood technical assistance providers, and two early childhood intervention practitioners. Pattern matching was used to evaluate whether or not participants with different roles and responsibilities judged the instructional design, interactivity, video illustrations, and usefulness of the e-learning lessons similarly or differently. Results indicated that the different features of the e-learning lessons were rated highly by all but one participant and that the patterns of responses were much the same regardless of participants’ professional roles or responsibilities. Participant feedback and suggestions were used to revise the e-learning lessons and correct technical problems

The longitude problem from the 1700s to today: An international and general education physics course

For instructors wishing to use physics as part of an international or general education course, the framework for a course based on the “longitude problem” from the 1700s is described. The longitude problem is teeming with basic principles of physics and astronomy, which makes it ideal for a non-science-major-based college-level course. This paper summarizes the longitude problem in the context of conceptual physics and astronomy and outlines an appropriate curriculum. Specifics on teaching such a course in London, as part of an international studies program, are discussed

Deconstructing the outsider puzzle: The legitimation journey of novelty

The proposition that outsiders often are crucial carriers of novelty into an established institutional field has received wide empirical support. But an equally compelling proposition points to the following puzzle: the very same conditions that enhance outsiders' ability to make novel contributions also hinder their ability to carry them out. We seek to address this puzzle by examining the contextual circumstances that affect the legitimation of novelty originating from a noncertified outsider that challenged the status quo in an established institutional field. Our research case material is John Harrison's introduction of a new mechanical method for measuring longitude at sea-the marine chronometer- which challenged the dominant astronomical approach.We find that whether an outsider's new offer gains or is denied legitimacy is influenced by (1) the outsider's agency to further a new offer, (2) the existence of multiple audiences with different dispositions toward this offer, and (3) the occurrence of an exogenous jolt that helps create a more receptive social space. We organize these insights into a multilevel conceptual framework that builds on previouswork but attributes a more decisive role to the interplay between endogenous and exogenous variables in shaping a field's shifting receptiveness to novelty. The framework exposes the interdependencies between the micro-, meso-, and macro-level processes that jointly affect an outsider's efforts to introduce novelty into an existing field

Active Brownian Particles. From Individual to Collective Stochastic Dynamics

We review theoretical models of individual motility as well as collective dynamics and pattern formation of active particles. We focus on simple models of active dynamics with a particular emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic dynamics of such self-propelled entities in the framework of statistical mechanics. Examples of such active units in complex physico-chemical and biological systems are chemically powered nano-rods, localized patterns in reaction-diffusion system, motile cells or macroscopic animals. Based on the description of individual motion of point-like active particles by stochastic differential equations, we discuss different velocity-dependent friction functions, the impact of various types of fluctuations and calculate characteristic observables such as stationary velocity distributions or diffusion coefficients. Finally, we consider not only the free and confined individual active dynamics but also different types of interaction between active particles. The resulting collective dynamical behavior of large assemblies and aggregates of active units is discussed and an overview over some recent results on spatiotemporal pattern formation in such systems is given.Comment: 161 pages, Review, Eur Phys J Special-Topics, accepte

Introduction: Rethinking the Impact of the Inter-American Human Rights System

This chapter introduces the central themes of the book and argues that the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) is activated by political actors and institutions in ways that transcend traditional compliance perspectives and that have the potential to meaningfully alter politics and provoke positive domestic human rights change. The chapter identifies key gaps in existing human rights scholarship, particularly in relation to the IAHRS, and outlines three core perspectives on the System’s impact on human rights. It offers a synthesis of the key findings of the volume, and provides reflections on the future prospects of the System by locating it in its broader global context

NAFTA Chapter 11 as Supraconstitution

More and more legal scholars are turning to constitutional law to make sense of the growth of transnational and international legal orders. They often employ constitutional terminology loosely, in a bewildering variety of ways, with little effort to clarify their analytical frameworks or acknowledge the normative presuppositions embedded in their analysis. The potential of constitutional analysis as an instrument of critique of transnational legal orders is frequently lost in methodological confusion and normative controversy. An effort at clarification is necessary. We propose a functional approach to supraconstitutional analysis that applies across issue areas, accommodates variation in kinds and degrees of supraconstitutionalization, recognizes its simultaneously domestic and transnational character, and reflects its uneven incidence and impacts. We apply this framework to NAFTA to consider whether and how it superimposes a supraconstitutional legal order on member states\u27 domestic constitutional orders. We show that the main thrust of this contemporary supraconstitutional project is to restructure state and international political forms to promote market efficiency and discipline, enable free capital movement, confer privileged rights of citizenship and representation on corporate capital, insulate key aspects of the economy from state interference, and constrain democratic decision-making

Boundaries can steer active Janus spheres

The advent of autonomous self-propulsion has instigated research towards making colloidal machines that can deliver mechanical work in the form of transport, and other functions such as sensing and cleaning. While much progress has been made in the last 10 years on various mechanisms to generate self-propulsion, the ability to steer self-propelled colloidal devices has so far been much more limited. A critical barrier in increasing the impact of such motors is in directing their motion against the Brownian rotation, which randomizes particle orientations. In this context, here we report directed motion of a specific class of catalytic motors when moving in close proximity to solid surfaces. This is achieved through active quenching of their Brownian rotation by constraining it in a rotational well, caused not by equilibrium, but by hydrodynamic effects. We demonstrate how combining these geometric constraints can be utilized to steer these active colloids along arbitrary trajectories

The Optimal Design of Trade Policy Flexibility in the WTO

This paper is a contribution to the literature on rational design of trade agreements. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an incomplete contract among sovereign states. Incomplete contracts contain gaps. Ex post, contractual gaps may leave gains from trade unrealized; they may create 'regret' in signatories once unanticipated contingencies or sudden protectionist backlashes have occurred. Trade policy flexibility mechanisms, such as the 'safeguards clause' under Art. XIX GATT, are geared towards seizing ex post regret by allowing parties affected by a protectionist shock to partially and temporarily withdraw from previously made trade liberalization concessions - given that they compensate the victim(s) of such backtracking behavior. This paper examines the somewhat understudied issue of optimal trade policy flexibility design in the WTO: In particular, we analyze whether ex post escape should be organized by means of a unilateral opt-out clause (a 'liability rule' of escape), or a bilateral renegotiation provision (a 'property rule' of escape). Modeling the WTO as a fully non-contingent tariff liberalization contract with contingencies (or 'states of nature') asymmetrically revealed, we find that a liability rule backed by expectation remedies payable to the affected victim Pareto-dominates both a renegotiation clause, as well as any other remedy arrangement connected to a liability rule. Only the remedial design of liability-cum-expectation damages yields the desirable incentives to liberalize ex ante, and to default ex post and therewith is able to replicate the outcomes of the hypothetical contracting ideal of the complete contingent contract