Pre-Twombly Precedent: Have Leatherman and Swierkiewicz Earned Retirement Too?

In theory, a complaint is a relatively minor part of a lawsuit, intended to initiate the litigation process. In practice, federal courts are struggling to implement the Supreme Court’s opinions in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal. This struggle is due, in part, to the fact that neither Twombly nor Iqbal expressly overruled the Court’s pre-Twombly pleading jurisprudence. This Note focuses on how lower courts are assessing the continued vitality of two major pre-Twombly cases: Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit and Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A. It finds that lower courts are taking conflicting views on the status of pre-Twombly precedent and concludes that this discord has serious consequences for litigation costs, respect for stare decisis, and litigants’ access to justice

Student Impression Management in the Classroom

With the growing shift from lecture-style teaching methods to interactive and experiential group exercises, instructors need to know more about their students, such as their desired impressions, to adequately engage and support students’ social interactions. This study addresses this need by providing an overall understanding of the types of images that are important for students to project when interacting with others in a classroom. After a concise review of impression management literature and grounding our reasoning in cybernetic theory (Bozeman & Kacmar, 1997) this study offers an insight of the positive impressions students desire to project in front of their peers and professors and the negative impressions students aim to avoid. With a two-part survey based on 269 responses, we measured students’ ranking of specific images and the effort level they exerted towards achieving or avoiding them. We offer suggestions of how these findings can be integrated into teaching for improved student learning and experiences

The Influence of Nutrients and Physical Habitat in Regulating Algal Biomass in Agricultural Streams

This study examined the relative influence of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and habitat on algal biomass in five agricultural regions of the United States. Sites were selected to capture a range of nutrient conditions, with 136 sites distributed over five study areas. Samples were collected in either 2003 or 2004, and analyzed for nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) and algal biomass (chlorophyll a). Chlorophyll a was measured in three types of samples, fine-grained benthic material (CHLFG), coarse-grained stable substrate as in rock or wood (CHLCG), and water column (CHLS). Stream and riparian habitat were characterized at each site. TP ranged from 0.004–2.69 mg/l and TN from 0.15–21.5 mg/l, with TN concentrations highest in Nebraska and Indiana streams and TP highest in Nebraska. Benthic algal biomass ranged from 0.47–615 mg/m2, with higher values generally associated with coarse-grained substrate. Seston chlorophyll ranged from 0.2–73.1 μg/l, with highest concentrations in Nebraska. Regression models were developed to predict algal biomass as a function of TP and/or TN. Seven models were statistically significant, six for TP and one for TN; r2 values ranged from 0.03 to 0.44. No significant regression models could be developed for the two study areas in the Midwest. Model performance increased when stream habitat variables were incorporated, with 12 significant models and an increase in the r2 values (0.16–0.54). Water temperature and percent riparian canopy cover were the most important physical variables in the models. While models that predict algal chlorophyll a as a function of nutrients can be useful, model strength is commonly low due to the overriding influence of stream habitat. Results from our study are presented in context of a nutrient-algal biomass conceptual model

Unified Abstract Mechanism to Model Language Learning Activities

Language learning applications define exercises that are pedagogical tools to introduce new language concepts. The development of this type of applications is complex due to the diversity of language learning methodologies, the variety of execution environments and the number of different technologies that can be used. This article proposes a conceptual model to develop the activities of language learning applications. It defines a new abstraction mechanism to model these activities as part of a model-driven approach to develop applications supporting different language learning processes running on different hardware and software platforms. We define a metamodel that describes the entities and relationships representing language learning activities as well as a series of examples that use the proposed abstraction mechanism to represent different language learning activities. The modelling process is simplified using a common representation that does not affect neither the visual presentation, nor the interaction of each activity. The article includes an evaluation that analyses the product correctness, robustness, extensibility, and reusability of the obtained code. These results conclude that the code generated using the proposed approach overcomes the code generated following a traditional approach

Sistema de conferencia de chat con referencias

Los sistemas de chat son uno de los medios de comunicación más utilizados y populares en la actualidad. El mercado está inundado de productos para soportar el intercambio de texto entre ordenadores. La mayoría de ellos contemplan características similares que poco han evolucionado conceptualmente desde su concepción. Uno de los objetivos de este trabajo es introducir algunos conceptos que permitan mejorar el desempeño de este tipo de herramientas. Un concepto importante que trata de incorporarse es el de visualización compartida de documentos. Se intenta aplicar el mismo principio utilizado en los mensajes estándar a los documentos, de esta forma es posible el intercambio de documentos para obtener una visualización compartida por los participantes de un sistema de intercambio de texto. Otro concepto a introducir es el de referencia. Una referencia reprasenta una marca asociada a una región de un documento, la cual está ligada a un mensaje estándar. El objetivo de estas mejoras es permitir una mejor y más rica expresión en la las comunicaciones basadas en texto.Tesis digitalizada en SEDICI gracias a la colaboración de la Biblioteca de la Facultad de Informática.Facultad de Informátic

Sistema de conferencia de chat con referencias

Los sistemas de chat son uno de los medios de comunicación más utilizados y populares en la actualidad. El mercado está inundado de productos para soportar el intercambio de texto entre ordenadores. La mayoría de ellos contemplan características similares que poco han evolucionado conceptualmente desde su concepción. Uno de los objetivos de este trabajo es introducir algunos conceptos que permitan mejorar el desempeño de este tipo de herramientas. Un concepto importante que trata de incorporarse es el de visualización compartida de documentos. Se intenta aplicar el mismo principio utilizado en los mensajes estándar a los documentos, de esta forma es posible el intercambio de documentos para obtener una visualización compartida por los participantes de un sistema de intercambio de texto. Otro concepto a introducir es el de referencia. Una referencia reprasenta una marca asociada a una región de un documento, la cual está ligada a un mensaje estándar. El objetivo de estas mejoras es permitir una mejor y más rica expresión en la las comunicaciones basadas en texto.Tesis digitalizada en SEDICI gracias a la colaboración de la Biblioteca de la Facultad de Informática.Facultad de Informátic