Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing 2018 Amendments to Rule 23 Class Action Settlement Provisions

In 2016, the Bolch Judicial Institute (then the Center for Judicial Studies) hosted a conference to develop Guidelines and Best Practices in light of new amendments to Rule 23 on Class Actions, which were scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2018. The conference laid the groundwork for the Class Action Settlement Guidelines and Best Practices, which were drafted by 38 prominent defense and plaintiff practitioners and experts well experienced in class action litigation — with significant input and comment from six federal and state court judges. This document is intended to help the bench and bar comply with the 2018 amendments to Rule 23. It adds detail to the general guidance provided in the amended rule and committee note. As with any group product of this nature, where some consensus must be reached, the drafters and other participants are not individually responsible for any particular statement or provision, and may or may not agree with any particular statement or provision. This document does not represent the views of Duke Law School, Duke University, their faculties, or any other organization

Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing the 2015 Discovery Amendments Concerning Proportionality (Second Edition)

In November 2014, the Duke Law Judicial Studies Center, which became the Bolch Judicial Institute in 2018, held a conference on the discovery proportionality amendments with more than 70 practitioners and 15 federal judges. Drafting teams were subsequently formed, consisting of 32 practitioners, who worked for nine months on an initial draft set of GUIDELINES AND PRACTICES prepared by Judge Lee Rosenthal and Prof. Steven Gensler. The team’s work product, the GUIDELINES AND PRACTICES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE 2015 DISCOVERY AMENDMENTS TO ACHIEVE PROPORTIONALITY, was published in 99 Judicature, no. 3, Winter 2015, along with several related articles. Most of the GUIDELINES AND PRACTICES’ recommendations represented general consensus views, but a handful were not universally endorsed. To address these and future unforeseeable concerns, the Institute planned to regularly revise and update the GUIDELINES AND PRACTICES in light of case-law developments and actual practice. As with any group product of this nature, where some consensus must be reached, the drafters and other participants are not individually responsible for any particular statement or provision, and may or may not agree with any particular statement or provision. This document does not represent the views of Duke Law School, Duke University, their faculties, or any other organization

Technology Assisted Review (TAR) Guidelines

In the winter of 2016, more than 50 e-discovery experts volunteered to develop and draft guidelines providing guidance to the bench and bar on the use of technology assisted review (TAR). This document explains the TAR process and offers “best practices,” which are intended to provide a protocol on whether and under what conditions TAR should be used. It provides a strong record and roadmap for the bench and bar, which explain and support the use of TAR in appropriate cases. As with any group product of this nature, where some consensus must be reached, the drafters and other participants are not individually responsible for any particular statement or provision, and may or may not agree with any particular statement or provision. This document does not represent the views of Duke Law School, Duke University, their faculties, or any other organization

Glacier mapping in high mountains using DEMs, Landsat and ASTER data

Glaciers are sensitive climate indicators and thus subject to monitoring of environmental and climate changes. Remote sensing techniques are often the only way to analyze glaciers in remote mountains and to monitor a large number of glaciers at the same time. Although several glacier mapping methods exist, often, results are still not good enough for in-depth conclusions. In particular, this is true for debris-covered glaciers. For the Bernina Group in the Swiss Alps and for the northern Tien Shan in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan a glacier mapping was undertaken employing digital elevation models (DEMs). DEMs were generated from ASTER and SRTM3 data and compared with each other and -for the Bernina Group-compared with the Swiss DHM25L2. Whereas ASTER DEM elevations are too high on average, SRTM3 DEM elevations are slightly too low. However, both DEMs are of good use for glacier delineation. The glacier mapping approach includes Landsat TM4/TM5-ratio images, multispectral and morphometric analysis. Results are satisfying for debris-free and larger debris-covered glaciers in both study areas. The next step should be an automated glacier mapping method

Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing the 2015 Discovery Amendments Concerning Proportionality (Third Edition)

This third edition of The Guidelines and Best Practices to Achieve Proportionality was developed following a proportionality conference in June 2019, at which practitioners and judges reviewed and discussed the results of several studies evaluating the 2015 amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure. A small working group convened by the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School, led by Judge Paul Grimm and including practitioners David Kessler and Jennie Anderson, gathered these insights, revised the guidelines, issued them for public comment, and made further revisions in light of the comments. As with any group product of this nature, where some consensus must be reached, the drafters and other participants are not individually responsible for any particular statement or provision, and may or may not agree with any particular statement or provision. This document does not represent the views of Duke Law School, Duke University, their faculties, or any other organization. We now offer these revised Guidelines in the hope that they will help judges and practitioners by offering balanced, fair, practical, and principled advice about how to navigate the sometimes turbulent waters of proportionality

Seeing and Understanding Data

Visual displays of data are commonly used today in media reports online or in print. For example, data visualizations are sometimes used as a marketing tool to convince people to purchase a certain product, or they are displayed in articles or magazines as a way to graphically display data to emphasize a certain point. In general, it is hard to imagine the majority of disciplines in science and mathematics not using data visualizations. However, before standard data visualization techniques were developed (and accepted by the community), mathematicians and scientists very rarely used graphical displays or pictures to represent empirical data

Seeing and Understanding Data: A Mini-Primary Source Project for Students of Statistics

Mathematicians and scientists included drawings in their work before the first statistical graphs were invented. However, their illustrations were meant to depict quantifiable relationships rather than exposing statistical variability. The uses of pictorial representations or charts to convey trends among variable measurements dates back to at least the late 10th century. However, this means of communication did not gain the widespread appreciation it enjoys today until technological advances in the 21st century stimulated the growth of a new field, data visualization. The mini-Primary Source Project (PSP) Seeing and Understanding Data provides students the opportunity to explore the evolution of statistical graphs and visual displays across time and to think critically about how data are displayed and interpreted

Rock glaciers

Rock glaciers, a key element of alpine mountain geomorphic systems, consist of coarse surface debris that insulates an ice-core or ice-debris mixture. Rates of movement of active rock glaciers vary from 1 to more than 100 cm yr–1. Rock glaciers exist in all major mountain ranges where permafrost occurs but are more common in dryer climates with high talus accumulation rates. New geospatial techniques, high-resolution data sources, and improved technology will contribute to a better understanding of these landforms. This chapter provides an in-depth summary of important research findings pertaining to rock glaciers and offers insight to future research.Preprin

Morphology and phylogeny of Scrippsiella trochoidea (Dinophyceae) a potentially harmful bloom forming species isolated from the sediments of Iran’s south coast

Phytoplankton cells and resting cysts of the species Scrippsiella trochoidea are regular and dominant components of the dinoflagellate flora of coastal marine waters and sediments around the world. This species is a common harmful bloom forming species in coastal waters. In this study, for the first time cyst of S. trochoidea were isolated from the sediments of southeast coast of Iran. Five strains from the germination of a single cyst belonged to S. trochoidea. In order to confirm identification of the species an excystment and encystment experiment, cyst and germinated cell morphology and plate pattern by light and electron microscopy (SEM) have been described. The nucleotide sequences of two highly diverse regions, the rDNA-ITS 1,2 and 5.8S-rDNA have been sequenced for all strains. Homologous sequences from GenBank with five Iranian strains were compared to find their phylogenetic relationship. Both NJ and MP phylogenetic and morphological analysis showed five strains of S. trochoidea from Iran were clustered with previously described S. trochoidea and Calciodinellum levantinum species, and its closest relationship was with Scrippsiella sp. strain with a 1.2-1.4% sequence divergence. Results indicate that molecular studies of rDNA if combined with morphological cyst and vegetative cells could be a valuable approach to identification and taxonomy of calciodinelloideae dinoflagellate