Alternative dispute resolution: opportunities

Approximately one year ago, the researcher became affiliated with United States Arbitration and Mediation, a nationwide network of attorneys and retired judges offering primarily mediation services for insurance and business litigants. United States Arbitration and Mediation of Wisconsin, Inc. (USA) is the local officeholder providing such services within the state of Wisconsin. The researcher is the sole owner of this entity. Currently, our local panel of mediators includes two judges and five attorneys providing primarily mediation services to insurance litigants. Some of the insurance companies currently referring cases are Allstate, American Family, Travelers, Liberty Mutual, John Deere and The Hartford. This service business is a part-time endeavor for both the researcher as an adjunct to a small law firm and the outside independent panel of mediators. Presently, USA\u27s function is to provide the business administration of this service. The issue is whether or not this business can survive independent from this writer\u27s law firm. Currently, U.S.A. of Wisconsin, Inc. uses offices machines, equipment and space provided by the law firm

An informal look at the non-apology

While the mechanisms of apology, forgiveness and reconciliation receive considerable scru-tiny, little attention has been afforded the non-apology. This counterfeit, confected typically by false substi-tution or mis-direction, adds moral insult to moral wrong. The paper elucidates the normative structural relationship among apologiser, the apologetic disposition, and the apology and defends the view of the non-apology as the pretended willingness to recalibrate the moral positional relationship among apologiser, wronged, and wrong without actually doing so

Data Curation and the University Archives

Data curation—the active and ongoing management of data through its life cycle—is a concern for researchers. As caretakers, it would seem natural that the university archivist and the university archives have a role in the data curation process. This article addresses the authors' research project to determine the level of involvement of archives and archivists in data curation. The results are contextualized within archival theory and practice, and the authors suggest additional steps that should be taken if the profession is to have a role in data curation.Introduction -- Defining data curation -- Survey setup -- Survey results -- Discussion and implications of study -- Further considerations of curating data -- Conclusions -- Appendix I: Initial survey instrument -- Appendix II: Follow-up surveyPublisher allows immediate open acces

Counting Is Not Enough: Investing in Qualitative Case Reviews for Practice Improvement in Child Welfare

Outlines the value of quality case service reviews in child welfare systems, requirements for building and sustaining a robust process and adapting it under limited state budgets, and recommendations for jurisdictions, initiators, and national leadership

MOMMMA: Master Objects Migration and Metadata Mapping Activity

So you’ve got nearly 2 million digital files from 8 collecting units with minimum, scattered or unknown metadata—how do you prepare to migrate those objects into a digital preservation repository that acts as a “light archive” providing access to your digital collections? This presentation will delve into data wrangling efforts, the creation of workflows, and the challenges encountered while preparing digital resources for migration from a limited access FTP server into a preservation environment created in FEDORA, layered with Hydra heads for access and other functional requirements. We will discuss project planning, the de-duplication efforts, development of a collection assessment tool and its implementation that allows us to prioritize migration efforts, as well as techniques used to transform, normalize, restructure, and link metadata to the accompanying digital resources

Authenticity and Audit Trails

Maintaining an audit trail—the chronological record of activities that is sufficient to enable the reconstruction, review, and examination of the sequence of environments and activities—is inextricably linked to the provenance of a record, not just at the point of appraisal and accessioning, but from the record’s point of creation, through its primary and active use by an individual or within an organization, and throughout its archival life. There is the need to authenticate the provenance—information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection—of the all items that are accessioned, regardless of format, albeit a more complex undertaking for electronic records.Publisher does not allow open access until after publicatio

Does Size Matter in the Digital Age? Reappraisal Considerations for Syllabi

In the era of digital documents, does size matter? Do we collect digital records more readily than their physical counterparts simply because we can, because we perceive storage to be inexpensive and unlimited? If collection size does not matter in the digital world, what should be considered in determining whether or not to acquire a collection that experiences significant annual growth? College and university archives are charged with collecting, preserving, and providing access to the documentary heritage of their institutions. The central task of higher education—teaching—is very difficult to document; who taught what course can be recorded easily, what was actually taught and how it was taught is much more difficult. The syllabus, a key record to documenting this educational process, has often not been included in archival collections due to intellectual property issues and sheer volume. This article examines the issues that surround collecting syllabi as an exemplar of collecting large volumes of records because we can in the digital age.Publisher allows immediate open acces

Electric utilities, fuel use, and responsiveness to fuel prices

This research tests the impact of changes in fuel price to explain fuel use by electric utilities. We employ a three-stage least squares model that explains changes in fuel use as a function of changes in three fuel prices. This model is repeated across sub-samples of data aggregated at the plant level and operating holding company level. We expect that plants and holding companies reduce fuel use when fuel prices rise. Several fuel substitution effects within and across plants and holding companies are demonstrated, as well as several frictions. At the plant level, higher prices of natural gas lead to less natural gas consumption, less coal consumption, and more fuel oil consumption. At the operating holding company level, results demonstrate the inelasticity of coal use and the increases of natural gas in response to higher coal prices. Subsamples demonstrate heterogeneity of results across different plants. Results emphasize that technological, market, and regulatory frictions may hinder the performance of energy policies