The American Bar Association and Federal Habeas Corpus

Yackle evaluates the ABA\u27s claims touching federal habeas corpus in death penalty cases. Neither the Supreme Court nor the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 embrace the ABA\u27s policy for habeas corpus

How Will Competition Change Human Resource Management in Retail Banking? A Strategic Perspective

The proposition that the way firms manage their labor forces should be consistent with their organization strategy might seem both obvious and noncontroversial. What this means in practice in a turbulent industry such as consumer financial service, however, is by no means obvious. Human resource management practices in banks are changing under pressures from an increasingly intense competitive environment. The nature of these changes remains unclear, and questions center around what forms the changes will take and around the effects of those changes. This paper draws on early interviews in a multi-year project on productivity in financial services firms. While the data are not sufficient to answer the question, the author believes they provide clear indications of directions to take in conceptualizing and further investigating the issues. The paper describes the issues involved with strategy, human resources and performance in retail banking. It then describes the challenges associated with applying a model relating strategy to human resource decisions and suggests some considerations for the emergent field of strategic human resource management drawing on a capabilities-based approach. It concludes with suggestions regarding further research in the study of strategic human resources in financial services. The author suggests that in retail banking, uncertainty lies both in understanding the potential value of particular business strategies and in seeing what sort of outcomes different human resource management (HRM) systems will produce. The author notes that few of the aspects of the set of human resource performance practices that are referred to in the literature as high performance workplace practices (HPW) have been embraced by retail banks. What is not known is whether HPW practices cannot deliver on valuable outcomes, or whether banks have simply failed to realize their potential. The author suggests that corporate strategic issues may influence the ability of the retail bank to meet its strategic goals, and they may influence the time horizon available to retail banks. The author suggests that in a less turbulent climate, there might be more investment in human resources. Current pressure to contain costs in the immediate short run, leaves retail banks in a difficult position. HRM must also be considered in relationship not only to corporate and business strategy, but also to technology and the design of process. In short, do certain kinds of HRM suit different technologies? The author points out that HRM practices do not function solely to serve strategic goals. Choices of particular HRM practices may reflect organization power and politics and institutionalized norms of best practices as much as they reflect strategic goals or performance imperatives. While the U.S. retail banking sector has not been organized into unions, the author suggests that the industry may see more workers beginning to push for at least some of the high performance workplace practices regardless of strategic concerns of banks, should the current period of relative labor surplus prove to be transient.

The DAB model of drawing processes

The problem of automatic drawing was investigated in two ways. First, a DAB model of drawing processes was introduced. DAB stands for three types of knowledge hypothesized to support drawing abilities, namely, Drawing Knowledge, Assimilated Knowledge, and Base Knowledge. Speculation concerning the content and character of each of these subsystems of the drawing process is introduced and the overall adequacy of the model is evaluated. Second, eight experts were each asked to understand six engineering drawings and to think aloud while doing so. It is anticipated that a concurrent protocol analysis of these interviews can be carried out in the future. Meanwhile, a general description of the videotape database is provided. In conclusion, the DAB model was praised as a worthwhile first step toward solution of a difficult problem, but was considered by and large inadequate to the challenge of automatic drawing. Suggestions for improvements on the model were made

The promise of asset-development policies

What are asset-development policies? What programs are underway to explore such policies? Larry Beeferman of the Asset Development Institute describes the movement and his views on why asset-development policies are vital to economic equality.Saving and investment ; Individual development accounts

A Reimagining of the Chacoan World

A new paradigm of the Chacoan world is presented, wherein Chaco Canyon is considered to be a mostly unoccupied architectural complex that functioned primarily as a pilgrimage destination. Chaco was the political, religious, and social focal point of people living in outlying regions. The resident population of the Canyon consisted of a small number of caretakers, charged with maintaining great house structures, food supplies, and their ceremonial contents. Chacoan chiefdoms were mostly located in large, well-watered, agriculturally-based communities situated at the base of mountains that ring the San Juan Basin, e.g., the Chuskas. Chiefly elites lived year-round in those areas, but during pilgrimages they occupied Canyon great houses associated with their respective dynasties, whereas their subjects occupied small houses situated on the Canyon floor. Not having 2000 people in the Canyon renders large-scale irrigated agriculture and massive importation of food unnecessary and provides an adequate explanation for the small number of burials found in the Canyon. Se presenta un nuevo paradigma del mundo chacoano, en el que el Cañón del Chaco es considerado como un complejo arquitectónico mayoritariamente desocupado que funcionaba principalmente como destino de peregrinación. Chaco fue el centro político, religioso y social de las personas que viven en regiones al aire libre. La población residente del Cañón consistía en un pequeño número de cuidadores, encargados de mantener grandes estructuras de casas, suministros de alimentos y su contenido ceremonial. Las jefaturas chacoanas se encontraban principalmente en grandes comunidades agrícolas bien regadas situadas en la base de montañas que anillan la cuenca de San Juan, por ejemplo, los Chuskas. Principalmente las élites vivían durante todo el año en esas áreas, pero durante las peregrinaciones ocuparon grandes casas del Cañón asociadas con sus respectivas dinastías, mientras que sus súbditos ocupaban pequeñas casas situadas en el suelo del Cañón. No tener 2000 personas en el Cañón hace que la agricultura de regadío a gran escala y la importación masiva de alimentos sean innecesarias y proporciona una explicación adecuada para el pequeño número de entierros encontrados en el Cañón

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of quaternary carbon stereocentres.

Quaternary carbon stereocentres-carbon atoms to which four distinct carbon substituents are attached-are common features of molecules found in nature. However, before recent advances in chemical catalysis, there were few methods of constructing single stereoisomers of this important structural motif. Here we discuss the many catalytic enantioselective reactions developed during the past decade for the synthesis of single stereoisomers of such organic molecules. This progress now makes it possible to incorporate quaternary stereocentres selectively in many organic molecules that are useful in medicine, agriculture and potentially other areas such as flavouring, fragrances and materials

Union Participation in Strategic Decisions of Corporations

This paper reviews workforce participation in strategic decisions - those that affect the basic direction of the company - when workforce interests are represented collectively through unions. We consider the problem of corporate governance and review the rationale for what we term strategic partnerships' between management and labor. The paper describes the prevalence of such partnerships in the U.S., focusing on two institutions through which unions have engaged in discussion of strategic issues: negotiated union-management partnership agreements, and union representation on corporate boards. We offer detailed accounts of specific strategic partnerships and of union involvement on corporate boards, showing that unions face a range of challenges in constructing partnerships that extend possibilities for effective representations of workers' interests.

Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's voluntary initiatives: Lessons from banking

The federal government has an interest in the financial stability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because of their importance to financial markets and the government's implicit guarantee of their liabilities. ; In October 2000 these two housing government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) announced six voluntary initiatives. One initiative would enhance market discipline by having the GSEs issue subordinated debt. A second would boost liquidity by having the GSEs maintain a liquid securities portfolio. The other four initiatives would increase transparency by having the GSEs disclose their credit and interest rate losses under certain scenarios, obtain a credit rating for the government's exposure to loss, and disclose whether the GSEs comply with certain capital adequacy standards. ; This article evaluates the initiatives from the perspective of current banking standards. The analysis suggests that the initiatives are beneficial but could be made more effective. The authors point out that the contribution of the subordinated debt initiative depends largely on whether investors believe the implicit guarantee extends to subordinated debtholders. The need for the liquidity initiative has not been established, the authors conclude, and can be criticized as allowing the GSEs to earn a credit spread. The most important of the disclosure initiatives, the one for interest rate risk, will provide some new information but could be more informative if it summarized a wider set of interest rate scenarios.Government-sponsored enterprises ; Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ; Federal National Mortgage Association ; Federal home loan banks