A New Strategy for Regulating Arbitration

Confidential arbitration is a standard precondition to employment. But confidential arbitration prevents a state from ensuring or even knowing whether employees’ economic, civil, and due process rights are respected. Further, employers regularly require employees to waive rights to class proceedings (thereby foreclosing small claims) and to arbitrate under the laws of another jurisdiction (thereby evading mandatory state law). In response, states have tried to regulate arbitration provisions, arbitral awards, and arbitral processes. But these efforts have all failed because the Supreme Court says they are preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. In this Article, I argue that states can and should adopt a new strategy: Deter parties from forming such contracts in the first place. The Article proceeds in three parts. First, I explain the problem. Over the last fifty years, the Supreme Court systematically immunized arbitration provisions against every plausible contract defense. Yet the Supreme Court continues to insist that, just as the Federal Arbitration Act requires, arbitration agreements are still subject to “generally applicable contract defenses, such as fraud, duress, or unconscionability.” This is false. Second, I present the first large-scale evidence on the pervasiveness of arbitration. The Supreme Court’s arbitration precedents have effect only to the extent private parties agree to arbitrate their disputes. To study this, I use machine-learning protocols to parse millions of filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and create a database of nearly 800,000 contracts formed by public companies. These contracts include employment agreements, credit agreements, joint ventures, purchases, and others. Employment contracts are by far the most likely to include a mandatory arbitration provision. Finally, I argue that, because the Supreme Court has all but stripped states of their power to enforce contracts, states should adopt policies that deter formation of objectionable contracts. For example, states cannot prohibit forced arbitration of sexual harassment claims. They can, however, prohibit sexual harassment as a subject matter for employment contracts; they can also enforce this with civil penalties and whistleblower rewards. Similarly, states cannot stop an employer from arbitrating under the laws of another jurisdiction, thereby evading mandatory limits on noncompete agreements. But states can declare noncompetes illegal, levy civil fines on employers that form them, and again offer employees whistleblower rewards to report violations. These approaches work because they create a cause of action for a third party—the state—who is not subject to the arbitration agreement. And unlike past efforts, these laws would not be preempted because they do not “derive their meaning from the fact that an agreement to arbitrate is at issue.

Attitudes of The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) Students Towards Distance Education

This paper is a descriptive study about attitudes of distance learnerstowards distance education at the university level. It has been established that in developing countries many students decide to join distance education programmes after missing opportunities in campus education systems. Likewise, this study confirmed that students join The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) after futile attempts at admission to campus universities in Tanzania or elsewhere. It was also disclosed that all other things being equal, mature applicants generally prefer to pursue their degree studies through the distance mode due to its flexibility and thepossibility of earning while learning. Direct applicants (fresh from high school) are extremely marginalized in accessing information about distance learning, thus their initial choices for university education tend to focus on campus universities. The paper recommends, inter alia, more concerted efforts to publicize OUT and its programmes (especially through outreach activities in rural areas), for the government and general public to increase the support for the development and promotion of OUT, and to coordinate the institutions that offer distance learning programmes.Keywords: distance education; attitudes towards distance education; distance learners; Open University of Tanzania

Challenges of Institutional Reform in African Higher Education: the Case of Three Public Universities in East Africa

While globalisation has traditionally been associated with networks of commercial and political interests, today it is a challenge with which all sectors of society, including higher education, must contend. In higher education, one of its manifestations is the rapid development of borderless higher education markets. In East Africa, this has seen universities in more developed countries strategically promote their services in the region through, inter alia, for profit universities, corporate universities and distance education programmes. A direct consequence of this has been the creation of ‘global students’, who are not bound by the dictates of the countries in which they reside. This accelerated mobility of knowledge and skills is the impetus for the migration of skilled workers hence brain waste and brain gain. In order to examine this phenomenon more closely, three purposely-selected East African public universities perceived as more suitable examples for internationalisation and institutional reform activities were studied. These are the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Makerere University in Uganda and University of Nairobi in Kenya. The study concluded that, despite the myriad of challenges that the universities face, they have numerous opportunities. If efficiently utilised, these opportunities can help the universities to overcome their challenges. The study argues that efforts to adopt an international outlook should not derail the universities from their mandate to serve their countries.Keywords: Institutional reform; Internationalisation; East Afric

Poultry Farmers’ Information needs and Extension advices in Kilosa, Tanzania: Evidence from Mobile-based Extension, Advisory and Learning System (MEALS)

Background: Poultry farmers need different information in order to improve their farming and contribute to the national economy. Information on poultry management is usually obtained from family members, friends, and neighbors with previous experience, extension officers, researchers, Television, radio, web and mobile based agriculture information systems. Promoting utilisation of vetted sources of information is envisaged to support poultry farmers in making informed decisions about management practices. This in turn will result into increased poultry productivity. Objective: Many researches have been done to evaluate various information sources but few have been done to evaluate the mobile based extension, advisory and learning system here referred to “UshauriKilimo”. This study particularly assessed poultry farmers’ information needs and extension advices given through the agro-advisory system among farmers in Kilosa district of Tanzania. The objective was to determine poultry farmers’ information needs submitted through “UshauriKilimo” and resulting advisory responses. Method: ICT based agro-advisory system \u27UshauriKilimo\u27 was deployed and used by poutry famrers for more than two years. The data from it were used to assess poultry farmers information needs. Only questions and advisory responses addressing poultry farming were analysed. These data were imported into the Qualitative Data Analysis Software, MAXQDA Plus 12 (Release 12.2.0) where they were coded, counted and analysed. Frequencies of variables were performed during content analysis. Results: More than 340 farmers used “UshauriKilimo” for the period of two years. There were more than 1500 questions and answers which contained 320 questions related to poultry farming. Most of the poultry farmers who used “UshauriKilimo” sought information on health management aspects (diseases transmission, diagnosis, treatment and control); egg production; chicken feeds and feeding; chicken breeds and housing aspects. Information on markets was the least used

Urban places for recreation – beyond dogmatic practices : case of Manzese Informal settlement Dar es Salaam

The planning and designing of cities to include urban open spaces for recreation is recognised as vital in human life. Since the middle of the 19th century, professional ideas and approaches have been used in the provision of urban open spaces. Despite this, cities in developing countries face the emergence of informal settlements due to rapid urbanisation. The informal settlements exist without being planned, but due to informal acquiring of land and building homes.As a result the settlements are compact with no urban open spaces set aside as parks or squares. Despite such condition, people recreate. Previous research on this topic is very limited. This thesis steps away from professional ideas and grounds itself in an in-depth exploration on the phenomenon of recreation and the production of spaces for recreation based on quotidian lived experiences-which is little explored in informal settlements-, in order to unpack contemporary planning and design perspectives. Located in the city of Dar es Salaam, Manzese informal settlement was used as a case study for this research, and embedded mixed methods were deployed. The findings uncover that despite their density, and despite these settlements being devoid of planned spaces for recreation, recreational activities are retrofitted in ordinary spaces categorised as public infrastructure, Outdoor spaces in residential premises and transformed indoor spaces. The findings also show that the spaces are appropriated through adaptation, negotiation, transformation and the engagement of meanings. The analysis of the findings has led to the insight that the production of spaces occurs in multidimensional perspective, and that recreational spaces should be thought of in terms of spatial temporality. Planning for recreational spaces should not be conceptualized in terms of categorical thinking between public and private, as the two can overlap. Also the concept of recreation varies according to context, as it is embedded with income generation in informal settlements. Understanding the production of spaces for recreation through quotidian spatial practices casts light on national and global policies with regards to people’s everyday ways of appropriating spaces, which is integral to the formulation of new policies

Reliability and Assessment Techniques on Ground Excavation

Planning and assessment on the excavation of the brittle materials (soil or rock) can be done by using the machinery and/or explosives. The reliability assessment has been proposed to predict the failure of ground during excavation process. The stability planning on cutting soil (rock) face by machinery can be compared between the deterministic and the statistical method. The risk of using explosives for rock excavation has to concern on the damage and environmental impacts after blasting events

Genetic Studies and Growth Performance of the Yellow Catfish, Mystus Nemurus (Cuv. & Val.) in Thailand

Yellow catfish, Mystus nemurus, was examined to determine levels of genetic subpopulation differentiation among samples of this species obtained from different parts of its range, as well as to compare the genetics of wild and hatchery-bred fish. Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis and histochemical staining techniques were used to examine genetic variation within and among 8 wild and one hatchery populations of M. nemurus in Thailand. Individual specimens were analyzed. at 23 protein-coding loci. Fifteen of the 23 loci examined (65.22 %) were polymorphic. Observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.041 to 0.111. Genetic distance estimates ranged from 0.00510 0.l64. The greatest genetic distance was found between the Chainat and Suratthani populations (0.164), which probably, a level indicative of subspecific differentiation in M. nemurus from within Thailand. Eight wild populations collected from throughout Thailand and a hatchery stock of M. nemurus were also analyzed at the molecular (DNA) level using the technique of RAPD-PCR fingerprinting. Five arbitrary primers were chosen to amplify products which showed 28 polymorphic loci (60.87 %). The highest genetic distance (D) was found between the Chainat and Suratthani populations with a value of 0.289, whereas the lowest was found in the pair of Songkhla population and hatchery stock with a value of 0.087. The dendrogram depicts the genetic relationships among populations of M. nemurus which grouped into four clusters according to their regions of origin namely northern group (Chiengrai and Sukhothai), central group (Kanchanaburi and Chainat), north-eastern group (Nongkhai and Nakormpanom) and southern group (Suratthani, Songkbla and hatchery stock). Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was applied to differentiate between Mystid and Tachysurid species of catfish : Mystus nemurus, M cavasius, M gulio, Tachysurus caelatus and T. truncatus, collected from the Tapee River, Thailand. Individual fishes were analysed for 22 enzymatic loci. Eleven loci (50.00 %) were found to be polymorphic (P<0.95). The percentage of polymorphic loci ranged from 14.3 % in T. caelatus to 38.1 % in M. nemurus. The highest mean heterozygosity was found in T. truncatus (0. 121±0.048) and the lowest in M cavasius (0.026±0.014). Genetic distance estimates among Mystus species ranged from 0.167 to 0.364 while genetic distance was 0.359 between the two species of Tachysurus. The genetic distance estimates between Mystus and Tachysurus populations ranged from 0.693 to 0.878. Morphometric and meristic variation among two populations from Chainat and Suratthani, which showed the highest genetic distance based on both the isozyme and DNA data, were studied. From the 23 morphometric characters examined, 20 characters showed significant differences. Most characters from the Chainat population differed from the Suratthani population especially for eye diameter (ED) and the distance from the posterior end of the dorsal fin to the anterior end of the adipose fin (DDA), which seemed to be consistent diagnostic characters differentiating the two populations. The relative growth performance of M nemurus collected from northern (Uttaradith), central (Chainat), and southern Thailand (Suratthani) were investigated. Three populations of fish broodstocks were induced to spawn at the same time. The fish larvae were nursed in 0.5 x 2.0 x 0.2 m tanks for 8 weeks. After nursing the fingerlings were separated into 2 groups and cultured at a stocking density of 50 fish/cage in l.0 x 1.0 x 1.5 m floating net cages, in which one group was placed in the north (Lumpang) and another group in the south of Thailand (Suratthani). Fish were fed to satiation with 30 % protein pellets for 48 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the growth performance of fish from both locations (north and south Thailand) were taken and analyzed. The highest growth was found in the population from the south, whereas the lowest growth was found in the central population. The results are in accordance with the values of genetic distances based on both isozyme and RAPD data

The effect of electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage and information security awareness on identity-theft anxiety level

Identity-theft means stealing someone’s personal information and using it without his or her permission. Each year, millions of Americans are becoming the victims of identitytheft, and this is one of the seriously growing and widespread issues in the U.S. This study examines the effect of electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage, and information security awareness on anxiety levels of southeastern Michigan students in becoming victims of identity-theft and whether there is any significant relationship between these variables. This research study used the effect of electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage and information security awareness on identity-theft anxiety level among southeastern students which form a research model. The research model identified electronic devices self-efficacy, electronic devices usage, and information security awareness as the main and direct factors that could affect identity-theft anxiety level in southeastern Michigan students. This study performed several analyses on a developed questionnaire to ensure validity and reliability. After examining all proposed hypotheses, this study found that electronic devices self-efficacy and usage does have significant impact on identity-theft anxiety level in southeastern students. The findings also support a relationship between information security awareness and identity-theft anxiety level in southeastern Michigan students. This research also showed that gender, employment status, race, age have moderating effects on all hypotheses. The outcome of this study provides more information regarding awareness of taking proactive measures about identity-theft and electronic devices usage among students

Public Housing in Two Liberal Welfare Regimes: A Comparison between the United States and the United Kingdom

Public or social housing is an important legacy of welfare-state regimes. Housing studies have sought to understand specific national policies by applying Esping-Anderson’s model of welfare state typology. This research aims to highlight how two nations, both of which fall under the same welfare regime typology of the ‘liberal welfare state,’ differ in their treatment of public housing policy, despite the apparent convergence of their policy efforts over the years. Through comparative historical analysis of the United States and the United Kingdom spanning over a hundred years, this piece suggests that institutional agencies play a crucial role in the success of public housing policies. These institutional agencies not only succeed in neutralizing the impact of policy shocks, but also influence policy efficiency and development trajectory due to their enduring nature in spite of changing political and economic perspectives. The piece also offers several lessons from the UK’s public housing policies for the U.S.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154833/1/Sanga_PublicHousinginTwoLiberalWelfareRegimes.pd

Sistem Bilangan Pokok Tradisional Dalam Masyarakat Nusa Tenggara Timur Sebuah Kajian Etnografis

Every human species community has language. No matter whether they are primitive or not. A language certainly has numeral that covers primary numeral and derivative numeral. These two kinds of numeral as the basic aspect in arithmathic. The culture development of the ethnic group really depends on the language and the primary numeral. Based on the concept above. There was a question to be answered. “How is the variety system of the primary numeral formerly in East Nusa Tenggara spreads on more than 42 island. Every member of social group from East Nusa Tenggara knew the difference of this attitude and behavior. Although, it was difficult to know why and how there were difference and similarity. To answer the confusion, the society and the government really need a scientific research to be conducted professionally. This report was the result of the ethic and emic study with an ethnography approach by Spradley, “A development research sequence”. This research was conducted individually and it was known as the beginning research that covers only the way how to determine the ethic with its ethic and enmic. The finding shows that East Nusa Tenggara has 37 traditional social groups based on the way how to name the numeral. Furthermore, the groups were divided again into six groups based on the number of primary nmeral obtaine