What employees see as the motivations of HR management affects their wellbeing

Firms need to understand how employees see the intent of their human resources actions, writes Amanda Shant

Determining Ownership and Control of IPv4 Addresses

The creation of the Internet ushered in an era of unprecedented legal challenges as jurists and legislators struggled to keep up with rapidly evolving technology.1 Chief among these issues is whether certain types of intangible data, specifically Internet Protocol addresses2 (IP addresses), can be owned and treated as intangible property. The world has nearly exhausted its supply of unique IPv4 addresses and the property rights of individuals utilizing IPv4 addresses are poorly defined. This area of law has not been subject to robust examination by the US court system. A few recent bankruptcy cases have tangentially reached the issue of whether IP addresses may be owned by private corporations instead of the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) that administer and maintain the vast amounts of IP numbers.3 The apparent tension is between those RIRs that wish to maintain their exclusive property rights in all IP addresses, and large companies, universities, and other institutions that were assigned IP addresses with very few, if any, contractual limitations and wish to exercise their own property rights in these IP addresses. This Note will seek to explore the modern issues associated with IP address ownership, evaluate the relative merit of all stakeholders’ property claims vis-à-vis IP addresses, and recommend possible solutions from other areas of property law, while keeping one eye on future developments and market continuity. This Note will begin by recounting a concise history of the development of IP addresses, taking time to specifically flag changes in concepts of address ownership and providing basic information on subjects such as RIRs, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Part I will outline the differences between legacy and non-legacy IP addresses, while noting how those differences potentially affect the property rights bound up in the respective categories. Part I will also explore how different stakeholders view property rights in IP addresses. IPv4 address administration is currently organized as a multi-stakeholder model, and as such, this Note is organized by the views of each major stakeholder in IPv4 technology: the American Registry for Internet Numbers’ (ARIN) view, the US Government’s view, and the free market view. Part II will discuss the major cases that have shaped the current state of property rights in IP addresses and similar devices such as domain names. Part III will compare the views of the major stakeholders in IP addresses. Part IV will survey the major theories of property law that underlie the current views on IP address property rights. It will explore how different social values—such as transparency, openness, and fairness—impact whether property rights ought to be recognized in IPv4 addresses. Finally, part V will identify and evaluate potential solutions to this complex legal issue. The most likely of the solutions is a judicial recognition of the existing extra-judicial status quo struck between ARIN and IPv4 address traders

Abolish Work!

The meaning of work is once again on the social agenda and gaining increasing relevance for contemporary political struggles

Improving the emotional intelligence competencies of principals and vice-principals in an educational organization: an exploratory study

Research has recognized that the principal is second only to the teacher in regards to impact on student learning (Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006) and the importance of emotional intelligence competencies of school leaders has been highlighted by Fullan (2014). As school districts strive to improve student learning and achievement, the emotional intelligence competencies of the principal/vice-principals can play a critical role in leveraging this influence. While studies have shown that emotional intelligence competencies can be improved upon over time (Groves, McEnrue, & Shen, 2008), research has not focused on whether all individuals benefit from specific training or what other factors may be influencing any improvement. This research study examined both of these aspects by investigating whether the emotional intelligence competencies of principals and vice-principals improved through participation in a focused professional development training program and what factors influenced any change. Participants in the study held positions of educational leadership within specific publically funded school districts in Ontario, Canada. In this study, a mixed method research approach was utilized with a two phase sequential design. Phase #1 involved quantitative data collection using the EQ-360 measurement tool (Bar-On, 2006). Participants completed a pre-test prior to engaging in the professional development training program and post-test following the training. Demographic information permitted participants to be sorted into sub-groups and statistical comparisons to be drawn between these groups. Phase #2 involved qualitative in-depth interviews with a probability sample group of participants who had been surveyed in Phase #1. Five key factors that also impacted emotional intelligence capacity emerged from the analysis of the Phase #2 interview data: Journey of Learning; Way of Being; Past Experience; Personal Supports and Professional Networks; and Way of Working. The findings presented in this study reaffirm that emotional intelligence competencies can be improved through professional development training. As well, variables that impact the ability of principals and vice-principals to improve their emotional intelligence competencies were identified and described. It was then illustrated how these variables interact with one another to support the individual’s journey of learning. These variables included Journey of Learning, Way of Being, Past Experience, Personal Supports and Professional Networks, and Way of Working. Whilst these variables were not in the design of the professional development training, they did contribute to the improvement of the participants’ emotional intelligence development. The identification and exploration of the interrelationship of these variables provide new knowledge, not previously identified in the literature. Further, the study presents a framework for developing emotional intelligence competencies. This framework focuses on fostering commitment, adopting a professional learning model, developing readiness, targeting audience and promoting supports. It is from an exploration of this framework that a number of recommendations were made which will assist school districts in becoming more aware of the effectiveness of professional development training programs and better able to support the development of the emotional intelligence competencies of its principals and vice-principals. Whilst this study focused on the experiences in a professional development training program of a group of principals and vice-principals in five Ontario school districts, the general findings should have significance to other school districts that provide similar large scale professional development training. Consideration and implementation of the recommendation from the findings from this study have the potential to enhance the effectiveness of similar professional development training in their education district, region or system

Cabinda: Africa's Forgotten War

With the cessation of conflict between the Angolan government and UNITA (União Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola) militias, in April 2002, attention turned to the ongoing separatist conflict in Cabinda. An oil-rich enclave separated from the rest of Angola by a slender strip of territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabinda has been the site of a decades-long war of independence between the Angolan government and various separatist factions, a struggle that has been called “Africa’s forgotten war.” Approximately30,000 people have lost their lives in almost 30 years of struggles for independence. Despite the severe humanitarian crisis, access to the enclave has been largely closed to all but those who work in the oil industry

The stations of the cross: A calculated trap?

A popular Catholic devotion most familiar in images, texts, and rituals, the Stations of the Cross contains the via cruces paradigm which is at the heart of Western Christian culture. In the following text an account of the historical development of the fourteen episode devotion provides a framework from which to examine in detail four visual interpretations of the Stations of the Cross by contemporary Canadian artists. The unusual serial nature and mythic content of the sequence lent a more ritualistic quality to the creative process of each artist so that, in the extended time and space spent working on the series, some aspect of a conflict inherent in art or religion was resolved within the artist’s life. Beth Strachan’s painting embodied the tension she felt in her dual iconoclastic and iconophobic religious heritage; Tony Urquhart used traditionally Christian imagery to evoke a sense of the sacred in a secular urban art gallery; the via cruces paradigm embodied for Fred Hagan the tensions between an individual and society; for the members at the Holy Cross Centre the symbol offered hope for a restored relationship between humans and the earth. Each of these highly individualistic interpretations of a conventional theme suggests the depth and vitality of the Stations of the Cross as a religious symbol that has on-going personal as well as cultural significance. Each series also points to the importance of visual images as an appropriate language for theology

Centring the Suburb, Focusing on the Family: Calgary’s Anglican and Alliance Churches, 1945–1969

During the postwar period, suburbanization shaped the relationship between church and family in the Anglican and Alliance churches of Calgary, Alberta. As churches ran ministries that reached out to suburban families, they also weighed in on the challenges modernity posed to family life. Though family was central to both the Anglicans and the Alliance, it was understood and addressed in different ways by the two communities. Durant l’après-guerre, la suburbanisation occupait une place charnière dans les relations entre l’église et la famille pour les églises anglicane et de l’Alliance de Calgary, en Alberta. Tout en dirigeant des ministères tendant la main aux familles des banlieues, les églises réfléchissaient également aux défis de la odernité pour la vie familiale. Si la famille était capitale tant pour les Anglicans que pour l’Alliance, les deux communautés la comprenaient et l’abordaient différemment