Law at the Speed of Dial Up: The Need for a Clear Standard for Employee Use of Employer-Provided Email Systems That Will Withstand Changing Technology

In 2007, the National Labor Relations Board adopted two clear rules concerning employee use of employer-provided email in Guard Publishing Co.: First, the Board held that employers were not required to allow employees to use employer-provided email to engage in protected activity pursuant to section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act; second, the Board held that if an employer allowed employees to use its email system for non-work purposes, it could still lawfully adopt and enforce nondiscriminatory rules that restricted otherwise protected activity. In 2014, the Board reversed this precedent in Purple Communications, Inc., and held that employees have a presumptive right to use an employer’s email system to engage in protected activity on non-working time if they are provided access to email for work-related purposes. This article analyzes the conflicting guidance provided by Guard Publishing Co. and Purple Communications, Inc. against the broader context of prior precedent concerning employer property rights. By highlighting numerous unanswered questions left open by the Board’s analysis in Purple Communications, Inc., this article advocates for the Board to reevaluate its position on employee use of company technology resources, including email, and to adopt a new framework that can readily and predictably be applied to new and developing technologies

Performativity, fabrication and trust: exploring computer-mediated moderation

Based on research conducted in an English secondary school, this paper explores computer mediated moderation as a performative tool. The Module Assessment Meeting (MAM) was the moderation approach under investigation. I mobilise ethnographic data generated by a key informant, and triangulated with that from other actors in the setting, in order to examine some of the meanings underpinning moderation within a performative environment. Drawing on the work of Ball (2003), Lyotard (1979) and Foucault (1977, 1979), I argue that in this particular case performativity has become entrenched in teachers’ day-to-day practices, and not only affects those practices but also teachers’ sense of self. I suggest that MAM represented performative and fabricated conditions and (re)defined what the key participant experienced as a vital constituent of her educational identities - trust. From examining the case in point, I hope to have illustrated for those interested in teachers’ work some of the implications of the interface between technology and performativity

Nitropyrene: DNA binding and adduct formation in respiratory tissues.

Binding of 1-nitro (14C)pyrene (NP) or its metabolites to cellular DNA and protein in cultures of rabbit alveolar macrophages, lung tissue, and tracheal tissue was examined. DNA binding in tracheal tissue (136 +/- 18.3 pmole NP/mg DNA) was four to five times the levels measured in either lung tissue (38 +/- 9.4 pmole NP/mg DNA) or macrophages (26 +/- 7.5 pmole NP/mg DNA). Adduct analysis of DNA isolated from lung tissue incubated with 1-nitro[H3]pyrene in vitro resulted in the identification of 2 to 5% of the NP adducts as C8-deoxyguanosine 1-aminopyrene. NP was also bound to cellular protein in tracheal tissue and lung tissue, and at a lower level in macrophages. Cocultivation of the macrophages with lung and tracheal tissue decreased the DNA binding in tracheal tissue by 45%. Following intratracheal instillation of diesel particles (5 mg) vapor-coated with 14C-NP (380 ppm, 0.085 muCi/mg) particles into rats, 5-8% of the radioactivity remained in the lungs after 20 hr. Most of the diesel particles were also deposited in the lung. Examination of DNA and protein binding in this tissue showed 5 to 12% of the pulmonary 14C bound to protein and no detectable levels of 14C bound to DNA

Performativity and primary teacher relations

A performativity discourse currently pervades teachers' work. It is a discourse that relies on teachers and schools instituting self-disciplinary measures to satisfy newly transparent public accountability and it operates alongside a market discourse. The introduction of the performativity discourse has affected teacher relations at three levels of professional work: with students, colleagues and local advisor/inspectors. Ethnographic research with primary teachers - which focused on their experience of Ofsted inspections in six schools over periods of up to four years - is the source of this paper. The paper argues that a humanist discourse prevalent in teacher relations with students, colleagues and advisor/inspectors has been challenged by a performativity discourse that: distances teachers from students and creates a dependency culture in opposition to previous mutual and intimate relations; creates self disciplining teams that marginalize individuality and stratifies collegial relations in opposition to previous relations where primary teachers sought consensus; and creates subjugatory, contrived and de-personalized relations between local advisors/inspectors in preference to previous partnership relations. The paper concludes that the change in relations is an indicator of fundamental change to social relations but that primary teachers are in a good position to influence the performativity discourse, albeit it a struggle, by reconstituting it through the maintenance of humanist relations

The characteristics of cognitive neuroscience tests in a schizophrenia cognition clinical trial: Psychometric properties and correlations with standard measures.

In comparison to batteries of standard neuropsychological tests, cognitive neuroscience tests may offer a more specific assessment of discrete neurobiological processes that may be aberrant in schizophrenia. However, more information regarding psychometric properties and correlations with standard neuropsychological tests and functional measures is warranted to establish their validity as treatment outcome measures. The N-back and AX-Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) are two promising cognitive neuroscience tests designed to measure specific components of working memory and contextual processing respectively. In the current study, we report the psychometric properties of multiple outcome measures from these two tests as well as their correlations with standard neuropsychological measures and functional capacity measures. The results suggest that while the AX-CPT and N-back display favorable psychometric properties, they do not exhibit greater sensitivity or specificity with functional measures than standard neurocognitive tests

Barriers to SARS-CoV-2 Testing among U.S. Employers in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Analysis Conducted January through April 2021

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. companies were seeking ways to support their employees to return to the workplace. Nonetheless, the development of strategies to support the access, use, and interpretation of SARS-CoV-2 testing was challenging. In the present study, we explore, from the perspective of owners and company leadership, the barriers to SARSCoV-2 testing among U.S. companies. Key informant interviews with company representatives were conducted during January--April 2021 about SARS-CoV-2 testing. A pre-interview survey assessed respondent socio-demographic and organizational characteristics. Interview sessions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using MaxQDA. A total of twenty interviews were completed with at least two interviews conducted in each major U.S. industry sector. Ninety percent of participants represented companies in business \u3e10 years, comprising both small and large workforces. Using a grounded theory approach, six themes emerged: (1) access to and knowledge of SARS-CoV-2 tests; (2) strategies for symptomatic and asymptomatic testing of workers; (3) type/availability of personal protective equipment to mitigate coronavirus exposures; (4) return-to-work policies; (5) guidance and communication of SARS-CoV-2 Testing; and (6) use of contact tracing and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Various modifiable and non-modifiable challenges for SARS-CoV-2 testing among U.S. companies were identified and can inform work-related SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies

Simulating (electro)hydrodynamic effects in colloidal dispersions: smoothed profile method

Previously, we have proposed a direct simulation scheme for colloidal dispersions in a Newtonian solvent [Phys.Rev.E 71,036707 (2005)]. An improved formulation called the ``Smoothed Profile (SP) method'' is presented here in which simultaneous time-marching is used for the host fluid and colloids. The SP method is a direct numerical simulation of particulate flows and provides a coupling scheme between the continuum fluid dynamics and rigid-body dynamics through utilization of a smoothed profile for the colloidal particles. Moreover, the improved formulation includes an extension to incorporate multi-component fluids, allowing systems such as charged colloids in electrolyte solutions to be studied. The dynamics of the colloidal dispersions are solved with the same computational cost as required for solving non-particulate flows. Numerical results which assess the hydrodynamic interactions of colloidal dispersions are presented to validate the SP method. The SP method is not restricted to particular constitutive models of the host fluids and can hence be applied to colloidal dispersions in complex fluids