The nation-state and the river: Spaces and times on Dutch rivers, 1795–1814

Nothing indeed demonstrates more forcefully the extent to which Dutch water management corresponds to the nature and the needs of the Dutch people and their land, and how it has emerged there from in a natural fashion than the fact that the revolutionaries of 1795, despite being so intoxicated by their unexpected victory and sudden power that they overturned everything ... nonetheless refrained from laying hands on institutions whose extreme antiquity would in those days have provided more of an excuse to abolish than to preserve them (J.W. Welcker, De Noorder-Lekdijk Bovendams en de doorsteking van den Zuider-Lekdijk bij Culemborg 1803–1813. Een bijdrage tot de geschiedenis van den Nederlandschen Waterstaat geschetst en met onuitgegeven stukken toegelicht (‘s-Gravenhage: 1880), p. 2)

The Impression of Possible Bias: What a Neutral Arbitrator Must Disclose in California

In Commonwealth Coatings Corp. v. Continental Casualty Co., the United States Supreme Court held that when a neutral arbitrator fails to disclose a relationship that gives rise to an impression of possible bias, the arbitrator\u27s award is subject to vacation. California courts adopted this holding and have applied it when interpreting the California Arbitration Act. Identifying a relationship that gives rise to an impression of possible bias might seem straightforward; however, the California courts have struggled with this question. This Note surveys the California court of appeal decisions interpreting and applying the impression of possible bias standard, and concludes that an arbitrator should be required to disclose relationships that (1) may lead an arbitrator to place unusual trust or confidence in one side or the other, and (2) are characterized by an atmosphere of pervasive trust and confidence. This formulation of the standard, the author argues, will preserve the viability of arbitration in California by helping to ensure reliable decisions by arbitrators, and will better protect the rights of parties who opt out of the courts to have an impartial decision maker determine the outcome of their cases. The Note also applies the impression of possible bias standard to arbitration proceedings involving two institutional arbitration providers-the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, Inc. (JAMS)-and concludes that decisions rendered under the auspices of JAMS are more susceptible to vacation than those rendered under the auspices of the AAA

The Impact of Virtual Dissection on Engineering Student Learning and Self-Efficacy

Product dissection activities are widely practiced in engineering education and recent efforts have sought to develop and utilize virtual dissection tools, little data exists on how these tools impact the learning process. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of virtual dissection on student learning and self-efficacy to understand the effects of virtual dissection tools for enhancing engineering instruction

Delta Blues

The whirlwind that swept through the American media after the devastation of New Orleans last August was hardly less ferocious than Hurricane Katrina itself. The Corps of Engineers was lambasted for failing to defend the city against the floodwaters, while politicians from Mayor Ray Nagin to President George Bush were called to account for the tragically incompetent evacuation and relief efforts. Critics frequently drove their points home with invidious comparisons to the Netherlands. Flood control in the United States was fragmented, environmentally indifferent, callous about safety standards, and undermined by pork-barreling and deceitful contractors (so went the refrain); the Dutch, in contrast, were a nation of honest, clever, hardworking, technologically advanced Hans Brinkers