Initial Disclosures and Discovery Reform in the Wake of Plausible Pleading Standards

This Note advocates for the reform of the federal initial disclosure of documents rule. Plausible pleadings, mandated by Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, provide sufficient foundation to support increased use of initial disclosures as a means to reduce the costs of civil discovery. The Massachusetts Superior Court Business Litigation Session’s Discovery Pilot Project pioneered a reform initial disclosure rule. The Discovery Pilot Project’s initial disclosure rule differs from the initial disclosure requirement under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in that it (i) requires actual document production and (ii) is intended as a principal document discovery tool. The federal initial disclosure of documents rule should be amended to include an actual production requirement, but the use of initial disclosures as a principal discovery tool is still too ambitious to warrant national replication

Self-Presentation of Male and Female Athletes on Instagram: A continuation of gender roles found in advertisements?

Social media has brought with it a closing of the relational distance between players and fans; athletes have an important decision to make about the way they want to be viewed, not only as athletes, but also in the many other facets of their lives, such as being a parent, friend or role model. By applying the differing gender expectations for males versus females to an athletic context, this research study aims to gain a better understanding of how these gender expectations for male versus female professional athletes are exhibited through self-presentation on social media, specifically Instagram. The athletes’ own self-presentation via their Instagram posts were compared to traditional roles presented by the media in advertisements through a visual content analysis. Four of Erving Goffman’s gender norm categories were utilized in analyzing Instagram posts: feminine touch, ritualistic touch, licensed withdrawal and ritualization of subordination. Twelve athletes were analyzed in this study, six of them male and six of them female. Each athlete was evaluated on the basis of seven different criteria including the presence of feminine touch, ritualistic touch, licensed withdrawal, a head tilt, nonathletic clothes, a knee bend, and a smile. In using qualitative and quantitative methods, 300 photos were analyzed for presence of this criteria (25 photos per athlete). The study found that both males and females are under considerable pressure to adhere to society’s gender expectations which are constantly perpetuated by the media, namely in advertising settings. Despite their athletic achievements and elevated status, athletes are no more immune to gender expectations than the rest of society. Female athletes are found to adhere to gender expectations on Instagram more so when they are not presenting themselves as athletes. Male athletes also remain in the boundaries culture has set for them as acted out in Instagram settings. However, there is hope for a rebuttal to these standards in the near future and using social media outlets, such as Instagram to do so. Female athletes may have already begun this shift. The future of reshaping gender roles rests in the hands of those with social power and influence if society ever has a hope to change the rules of the game

Virtuous Leadership: Using Spiritual Principles to Guide Department Chair Work

In this workshop, participants will explore six universal spiritual principles that can be useful in guiding one’s work as a department chair in a way that upholds that mission of the department and facilitates stress reduction and mental health of the chairperson

Maternal diabetes and perinatal outcomes

Diabetes is a serious problem in the nation and in the state of West Virginia (WV). Having diabetes during pregnancy has been associated with several negative perinatal outcomes. This study was done to test the hypothesis that women with diabetes would have more negative perinatal outcomes than those who do not. A secondary hypothesis was women with pre-gestational diabetes would have more negative perinatal outcomes than women with gestational diabetes.;Data were analyzed for the years 2001 and 2002 on all babies born to mothers enrolled in the West Virginia Medicaid program. Data for those two years were analyzed using three different databases including WV Vital Statistics, the WV Birth Score Project and WV Medicaid Claims. There were a total of 14,583 births included in the population. The population was split into two groups according to the presence of diabetes in the mother. This was determined using ICD-9 codes for diabetes in the Medicaid Claims data. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This Is Not A Dissertation: (Neo)Neo-Bohemian Connections

This dissertation uses/packages selected post-World War II literature, film, and photography to identify and analyze various aspects/nuances and influences/connections of/on/to Neo-Bohemia in the contemporary United States, and aims to show how these textual associations and analyses interconnect with particular American cities and (neo)bohemian neighborhoods along with these spaces’/places’ related residents and players

Inspired Leadership: Using Spiritual Principles to Guide Department Chair Work

In this workshop, participants will explore six universal spiritual principles that can be useful in guiding one’s work as a department chair in a way that upholds that mission of the department and facilitates stress reduction and mental health of the chairperson. Case studies from the experiences of department chairs will be examined

A Comparison of the Teaching Performance with the Academic Record of Oregon State University Graduates in Elementary Education

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Oregon State University undergraduate elementary education program. More specifically, the investigation sought answers to the following questions: 1. What are the graduates' judgments of pertinent areas of the elementary teacher education program? 2. To what extent does the, graduates' academic records affect their. judgments concerning the elementary teacher education program? 3. How do the graduates' administrators rate the graduates' teaching competencies? 4. Is there a relationship between administrators' ratings of graduates and graduates' academic record? Procedures: The study utilized two questionnaires and follow-up interviews as methods of obtaining the desired data. Background information was collected for 121 graduates. All tabulations were recorded as percentages with the significance of differences determined by critical ratios. Selected Findings The five-point rating scale used for the questionnaires was structured with values: 5 - superior, 4 - above average, 3 - average, 2 - below average, and 1 - inferior. A zero column was provided for "no response," or "no opinion" or "did not have the experience." These will be the values referred to hereafter in the findings. 1. Graduates rated Student Teaching, Reading, and Children's Literature highest and School in American Life and Educational Psychology significantly low in professional education courses. 2. Graduates with the high 25 percent grade point average and ACE entrance examinations versus the low 25 percent rated professional education courses: (1) more frequently in the below average and inferior values and (2) less frequently in the superior and above average values. 3. Graduates rated Speech Correction highest and Physical Education and General Psychology significantly low in general education courses. 4. Graduates with the high 25 percent grade point average and student teacher grades versus the low 25 percent rated general education courses: (1) more frequently in the superior and above average values and (2) more frequently in below average and inferior values. 5. Graduates rated Reading and Arithmetic highest and Music and Health lowest concerning value received in their student teaching experience. 6. Graduates rated the student teacher seminar more frequently in below average and inferior values. 7. Administrators rated graduates' teaching competencies under Methods of Instruction and Evaluation as significantly low in: Helping children in music; Helping children in physical education; Helping children to speak effectively; Helping children in social studies; Helping children express themselves in writing; Helping children in art; Helping children in problem solving; Diagnostic and remedial methods 8. Administrators rated the low 25 percent grade point average graduates 57 percent less frequently in below average and inferior values when compared to the high 25 percent. 9. Administrators rated the low 25 percent student teacher grade graduates versus the high 25 percent: (1) seven percent more frequently in superior and above average values and (2) 50 percent less frequently in below average and inferior values. 10. Administrators rated the high 25 percent ACE entrance examination graduates versus the low 25 percent as significantly higher in five teacher competencies: Helping children in arithmetic; Helping children in problem solving; Helping children in expressing themselves in writing; Helping children in learning to write and spell; Understanding the age level in child growth and development 11. Graduates emphasized as most urgent and immediate needs in the elementary teacher education program: (1) evaluating professional education courses for excessive amount of overlapping and duplication, (2) improving teaching methods of School of Education faculty, (3) more classroom observation and first-hand experience with children before student teaching assignment, (4) lengthening student teaching time, and (5) structuring the student teacher seminar for more practical experiences. 12. Graduates indicated a definite interest in the "satisfactory" - "not satisfactory" grading policy for student teaching. 13. Administrators were unanimous in their confidence toward the elementary education program as appraised in follow-up interviews

Recombinant methioninase combined with doxorubicin (DOX) regresses a DOX-resistant synovial sarcoma in a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse model.

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a recalcitrant subgroup of soft tissue sarcoma (STS). A tumor from a patient with high grade SS from a lower extremity was grown orthotopically in the right biceps femoris muscle of nude mice to establish a patient-derived orthotopic xenograft (PDOX) mouse model. The PDOX mice were randomized into the following groups when tumor volume reached approximately 100 mm3: G1, control without treatment; G2, doxorubicin (DOX) (3 mg/kg, intraperitoneal [i.p.] injection, weekly, for 2 weeks; G3, rMETase (100 unit/mouse, i.p., daily, for 2 weeks); G4 DOX (3mg/kg), i.p. weekly, for 2 weeks) combined with rMETase (100 unit/mouse, i.p., daily, for 2 weeks). On day 14 after treatment initiation, all therapies significantly inhibited tumor growth compared to untreated control, except DOX: (DOX: p = 0.48; rMETase: p < 0.005; DOX combined with rMETase < 0.0001). DOX combined with rMETase was significantly more effective than both DOX alone (p < 0.001) and rMETase alone (p < 0.05). The relative body weight on day 14 compared with day 0 did not significantly differ between any treatment group or untreated control. The results indicate that r-METase can overcome DOX-resistance in this recalcitrant disease

‘Whether you are gay or straight, I don’t like to see effeminate dancing’: effeminophobia in performance-level ballroom dance

This article discusses recent responses to performances of same-sex male ballroom dancing in order to consider the subtle difference which can exist between homophobia and effeminophobia. Given that the world of performance-level ballroom dancing is a gay-friendly environment, in which many participants are openly gay identified, this article will argue that a discourse of effeminophobia, rather than homophobia, underpins the world of performance-level ballroom dance. Performance-level ballroom dance is often read as camp not only because it represents exaggerated gender roles but because its official technique requires that the male dancer synthesise codes of masculinity and femininity in his dancing. What protects the gender-dissident male ballroom dancer from being read as effeminate is that he is paired with a female body performing excessive femininity. Without the foil of the hyper-feminine female partner, the same-sex couple draws attention to the fact that the male ballroom dancer is not dancing as a man but in accordance with ballroom’s queer construction of masculinity. Given that performance-level dance has struggled for so many years to be viewed as masculine sport, practitioners may, quite understandably, be anxious about any representation which suggests that ballroom dance may be an effeminate activity