An Antitrust Analysis of the Case for Wireless Network Neutrality

The ongoing debate about possible implementation of regulatory rules requiring “network neutrality” for wireless telecommunications services is inherently about whether to impose a prohibition on the ability of network operators to control their vertical relationships. Antitrust analysis is well suited to analyze whether a wireless network neutrality rule is socially beneficial. Implementing network neutrality rules would be akin to using a per se antitrust rule regarding vertical relationships instead of the rule of reason analysis typically applied to vertical relationships in antitrust. Per se rules are used to prevent actions that rarely, if ever, have any pro-competitive benefits, such as price-fixing agreements. Rule of reason analysis is used when there are potential efficiency gains from the actions under investigation. Some vertical practices of the wireless carriers, such as bandwidth restrictions, may appear to be anticompetitive, but may also have plausible efficiency justifications so should be judged under rule of reason analysis. Economic examination of the wireless industry shows significant competition between networks which reduces the concern about vertical relationships, but some areas that should be monitored by antitrust and regulatory authorities. We propose several regulatory changes that would likely increase wireless competition and lessen the perceived need for prophlactic network neutrality rules while at the same time allowing efficiency-enhancing vertical relationships.network neutrality, wireless internet, antitrust,

Narrative play therapy and the journey of a boy diagnosed with a learning disability: a case study

This study offers a detailed exploration of the personal narrative of a nine year old boy diagnosed with a learning disability, and explains how the nature of the therapeutic relationship facilitated shifts in his personal understandings of himself, others and the world. Children diagnosed with learning disabilities experience a range of challenges in their different life contexts, and particularly within the school context. This is often because of constant evaluation and surveillance from teachers, family members and peers, who define the child within rigid and limiting frameworks. Soon enough children diagnosed with learning disabilities develop problem-saturated narratives that can significantly influence their relationship with themselves and others. This is because the individualising effects of having a disability cause them to feel different or isolated from their peers. This study illustrates an eight session case study, facilitated by a narrative play therapy approach, between a counsellor, a child and his parents. The therapeutic encounters were intended to assist the child in moving away from problem-saturated narratives of incompetence and inferiority towards more preferred narratives that would positively influence his self esteem. Key words: learning disability, dyslexia, narrative, narrative therapy, identity, self esteem. Children Diagnosed with a Learning Disability Children who have been diagnosed with a learning disability often experience themselves and their world very differently from other children (Rodis, Garrod, & Boscardin, 2001). Within the educational system a considerable amount of pressure is placed on children to succeed. The educational discourse of achievement that professes itself to be the only direction from which a successful future can be attained, marginalizes and rejects those children whose knowledge and skills exist outside this rigid and oftentimes insensitive system of evaluation. As a result, children soon create problem saturated narratives, believing themselves to be the problem. However, in the last two decades there has been a move from reductionism to constructivism and as a result research in the field of learning disabilities has started to focus on children’s non-traditional strengths and talents, which are often misunderstood and ignored by schools. Armstrong (1987) sums it up as follows: The schools allow millions of imaginative kids to go unrecognise

Evaluating the 'Parental Understanding of Neurodisability Questionnaire' as a measure of change

This thesis aimed to provide a second validation phase of a recently developed measure: the Parental Understanding of Neurodisability Questionnaire (PUN-Q) (Moran et al., submitted). The PUN-Q is a thirteen item self-report questionnaire measuring parents’ understanding of their child’s neurodisability. This thesis prospectively validated the PUN-Q over three time points, prior to and following a child’s attendance at a Tier-Four paediatric diagnostic assessment, for queries regarding social communication. Four main aims were investigated: 1) to establish prospective Construct Validity by comparing the PUN-Q to two other parent-report measures (perceived self-efficacy and parenting stress); 2) to examine test-retest reliability of the PUN-Q by comparing two pre-assessment time points; 3) to examine whether the PUN-Q is sensitive measuring potential pre-and-post assessment changes to parental understanding; 4) to explore the relationship between the PUN-Q and child emotional, behavioural and social communication difficulties. These objectives were addressed using data collected from 37 parents, due to time constraints the study was underpowered at Times two and three (n=26, n=11, respectively); bootstrapping confidence intervals were therefore estimated for non-parametric data. Evidence was provided for Construct Validity at Time 1, but not at Time 3. Test-retest reliability was suggested for the PUN-Q between two non-intervention time points. Results suggested that the PUN-Q is responsive to changes over time, and that the clinic’s diagnostic assessment is effective in enhancing parental understanding. The PUN-Q was not shown to be related to child-related outcomes. These preliminary results suggest that the PUN-Q is an important measure that can reliably and conveniently measure parental understanding of their child’s neurodisability symptoms. This study suggests a role for parental understanding within a wider model of parenting stress and coping with disability. Further validation is needed to allow dissemination to the wider neurodisability service, and to less complex symptom presentations

Henri Temianka Correspondence; (tsmith)

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/temianka_correspondence/2855/thumbnail.jp

Regulatory Takings and the Constitutionality of Commercial Rent Regulation in New York City

In recent years, the plight of small businesses in New York City has become a contentious topic. Although the city and its current mayoral administration share a long-standing commitment to affordable housing, the city’s small businesses—an integral and defining feature of the urban landscape—have suffered immensely. In the past decade, local establishments have largely given way to a homogeneous landscape of empty storefronts and national chain stores.The loss of local busi- ness occurs with such staggering frequency that there is an entire thriving blog subculture documenting their “vanishing” and the Center for an Urban Future publishes an annual report on the growth of chain businesses in the city. Pro-development advocates assert that this “vanishing” merely represents a sort of creative destruction that the city naturally experiences. However, critics point out that most of these businesses were perfectly viable—even thriving—but were pushed out by a local commercial law regime that favors large landlords and strips small commercial tenants of all bargaining power. This imbalance, they suggest, is what results in commercial rents that can increase close to ten-fold when it comes time to renew leases. In response to this perceived injustice, small business advocates have proposed the Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA) in the New York City Council. The Act proposes various protective measures and seeks to increase small commercial tenant bargaining power. However, the bill’s current incarnation languished at the committee stage until October 2018, when it finally received its first hearing. A primary reason for the near decade-long inability of the bill to make it to hearings—and the current uncertainty as to whether it will make it to a vote—in City Council is the position, held by some council members and real-estate advocates, that the proposed legislation is unconstitutional. However, public debate on the bill and related measures has reemerged in the recent mayoral election and its aftermath. This Note surveys the current status of small businesses and commercial tenant law in New York City and discusses whether or not the SBJSA and commercial rent control are constitutional in light of current regulatory takings jurisprudence