6,023 research outputs found
The New Old Legal Realism
Do the decisions of appellate courts matter in the real world? The American judicial system, legal education, and academic scholarship are premised on the view that they do. The authors want to reexamine this question by taking the approach advocated by the original Legal Realists. The current project seeks to add to our knowledge of the relevance of case law by focusing on an area that has received little examination: how pronouncements about employment discrimination law by appellate courts translate into understandings and behavior at the ground level. As our lens, we use evidence of how people talk about the relevance of changes in the law. This new Old Legal Realist perspective suggests that social and economic factors play a more important role than case law in outcomes on the ground. Cases cannot have an impact, if the local social and economic variables are not aligned in a fashion that allows the impact to occur
SEEKING AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH TRADE NEGOTIATIONS: WANTING DOESN'T MAKE IT SO
International Relations/Trade,
Middle-Age Job Mobility: Its Determinants and Consequences
Our paper uses the wealth of information available in the NLS to expand on previous work in several ways. First, we investigate whether there is a meaningful distinction among types of job separations. Traditional analysis has categorized job separations as either employee-initiated (quits) or employer-initiated (layoffs). We question whether this dichotomy is correct. The National Longitudinal Survey data is especially useful for studying the relationship between wages and the probability of quitting. Most theoretical work on the determinants of job separation concludes that the probability of changing jobs is related to a reservation wage. The NLS data set allows us to test this relationship since it includes information on the individual's "hypothetical wage"-- that is, the wage required to induce the individual to accept another job. Given this information, we are able to compare the effects of different measures of the individual's price of time (e.g. the current wage and the reservation wage) on the probability of quitting. In addition, we analyze the role of human capital variables, job related characteristics and family background in the determination of job mobility. The analysis of the determinants of job separations in the cross-section naturally leads to an investigation of the relationship between previous separations and future separations. In particular, we consider whether such a relationship exists, and whether the nature of previous separations is a good predictor of the nature of future separations. Finally, we analyze the effects of job mobility on earnings and on job satisfaction. We distinguish between the immediate gains to mobility and the future gains to mobility, and also consider whether the nature of the separation is an important determinant of the consequences of job mobility.
Wage Growth and Job Turnover: An Empirical Analysis
This paper demonstrates that labor turnover is a significant factor in understanding wage growth since it affects both wage growth across jobs and wage growth within the job. Our analysis shows that young men who quit experience significant wage gains compared to stayers and compared to their own wage growth prior to the job change. Among older men, a quit increases wage growth only if the individual said he changed jobs because he found a better job. Yet in both age groups, individuals who expect to remain on the current job experience steeper wage growth per time period on that job. Thus labor turnover has offsetting effects on wage growth, leading to wage gains across jobs but flatter growth in shorter jobs. Our empirical analysis shows however that total life-cycle wage growth is positively related to current tenure. While early mobility may pay, individuals who are still changing jobs later in life experience lower overall wage growth.
2010 Estimated Cost of Producing Hops in the Yakima Valley, Washington State
The enterprise budget provides estimates of production costs for a well-managed hop enterprise in Yakima Valley, Washington as of 2010. Three producer scenarios are presented to demonstrate how the enterprise budget can be used to evaluate situations in which the producer may find him/herself. An interactive Excel Workbook is developed and detailed instructions are provided to allow users to input their own data or make changes to the existing spreadsheets.enterprise budget, hops, Washington
Silhouettes
Bright lights faded into the gloom of a dimmed theater, and the crowd stirred restlessly in their seats. The orchestra\u27s low drone came from behind the curtain, and strains of half forgotten melodies mingled with discord. The orchestra was ready. As the curtain rose, the stage lights flooded, revealing the conductor, famous musician of two continents, who was playing tonight a special concert for war relief. The light from the stage half revealed the first row, a set of faces with inscrutable eyes. The conductor, glancing briefly at this row, wondered fleetingly who these people were, what brought them to this concert, and what they thought as they listened to his music. As fast as the thought came, it disappeared. The conductor turned to the orchestra, raised his baton, and the strains of a familiar Strauss waltz were heard . . .
Factors affecting teachers’ use of computer technology for promoting meaningful learning
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, August, 2014.The research described in this thesis is a case study of the factors influencing teachers’ use of
computers for teaching at a private secondary school in South Africa. Two problems motivated the
study. Firstly, teachers were not using ICT for meaningful learning despite the South African Education
Department's emphasis on the use of ICT in education. Secondly, teachers were not coping with the
demands of a new school curriculum involving innovative practices and new content. The case study
school had purchased a software package for the sciences which claimed to be suitable for the new
South African curriculum. The software package was evaluated as part of the study, to investigate its
usefulness for supporting Life Sciences teachers to teach new content during a period of curriculum
change. The study comprised two phases, one before and one after the school introduced an
innovation promoting the use of ICT for instruction.
In the absence of a suitable model to underpin the investigation a literature-based mind-map was
constructed to provide a conceptual framework to guide the study. An analysis of 48 papers reporting
on the factors affecting teachers’ use of computers led to the identification of 43 factors, which were
classified into categories and sub-categories in the form of a hierarchical map showing the
relationships between the factors, and providing the framework used to structure the investigation of
factors. This was later developed into a holistic model showing the relationships between the factors,
based on the theory of planned behaviour, but modified by the addition of knowledge and skills, which
were found to influence teachers’ computer usage directly, as well as impacting on teachers’ beliefs,
attitudes and behavioural intentions about using technology. This model could be useful for
stakeholders to identify factors that could be used to promote the use of ICT in ways that benefit
learning.
During the first phase factors were identified using participant observation recorded by means of a
researcher’s journal and semi-structured interviews with four teachers, with open-ended checklists
being used for the software evaluation. Five categories of teacher-level factors (factors within
teachers' control) were identified which affected their use of ICT: teachers’ perceptions of the
effectiveness of ICT; teachers’ attitudes towards ICT; teachers’ level of innovativeness; teachers’
technological knowledge; and teachers’ level of ICT proficiency. Five categories of institutional factors
(beyond teachers’ control) also emerged: the availability and accessibility of computer hardware; the
availability of suitable software; the level of technical support available; the provision of training; and
the amount of time available to plan for and use technology for teaching and learning. The biodiversity
section of the software package purchased by the school was evaluated in terms of supporting
teachers with teaching this new section of content required by the new curriculum. Five features of
software design were evaluated: the extent to which the software promoted seven of the nine new
classroom practices required by the new South African curriculum, the extent to which the package
covered the content needed to teach biodiversity and the pedagogical strategies used to teach this
content, how effectively the user interface conveyed messages to users, and the multimedia strategies
used in the software package to promote effective learning. The software evaluation aspect of the
study led to the development of several open-ended checklists to evaluate different relevant
curriculum-related criteria, and a new model for the context-based evaluation of software which could
be useful for designers of instructional software.
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The introduction at the case study school of an innovation promoting the use of ICT for instruction
allowed the study to enter a second phase extending the sample for investigating factors affecting ICT
use, and focusing on teachers' use of computers in response to being provided with more ICT
resources and being required to set computer-based tasks for learners to complete at home on
dedicated technology days (DigiDays). During this phase multiple online questionnaires were
administered to a sample of 29 teachers, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and 33 ICTbased
tasks set by the teachers were reviewed using content analysis, to see whether they used
technology effectively. The innovation allowed three obstacles which had emerged during the first
phase of the study to be investigated in more depth. Firstly, the setting aside of time for computerbased
work addressed the lack of time for using computers in lessons, mentioned by teachers during
the first phase of the study, and permitted an investigation of whether this alleviated the time
pressures teachers associated with using computers. Secondly, the effect of the training provided for
using Moodle on DigiDays was investigated to see whether it adequately prepared teachers to use
computers in ways which enhanced learning. A lack of training which met teachers' needs had
emerged during the first phase as a major factor hindering teachers' use of computers. Thirdly, the
influence of teachers’ levels of innovativeness on their computer use outside of the mandated usage
on DigiDays was investigated. Teachers were classified into groups based on Rogers’ adopter
categories (Rogers, 1962, 2003), but using additional features to just the rate of uptake of an
innovation, used by Rogers. A quick and easy method involving a questionnaire and associated key
for placing teachers into adopter categories was developed. This method could facilitate the
classification of teachers into adopter categories and the tailoring of support aimed at promoting the
rate of uptake of ICT, based on the characteristics of the different adopter groups.
Case studies of selected teachers were carried out to better understand why they were using
computers in certain ways. Based on the model of Donnelly et al. (2011) the selected teachers were
grouped according to whether they were using ICT for teaching in instructivist or constructivist ways,
and whether or not they showed discerning use of ICT for teaching. A number of subgroups emerged,
highlighting the need to understand the complex reasons underlying teachers' behaviours relating to
using ICT and underscoring the importance of designing training programmes based on why teachers
use ICT for teaching in a particular way
The dynamics of trematode infected and uninfected Planorbella trivolvis in commercial catfish ponds
Planorbella trivolvis, a snail routinely found in catfish ponds, is an intermediate host in the life cycle of Bolbophorus damnificus, a digenetic trematode responsible for mortalities in catfish. This research generated information on the life cycle and the population dynamics of P. trivolvis in catfish ponds which could be implemented to control P. trivolvis. Research indicated that: P trivolvis is present year-round; survives overwintering at water temperatures of 5°C; reproduces year-round; is found in vegetation, sediment and water in ponds year-round; lays eggs two months post-hatch; and has a life span of at least one year. Planorbella trivolvis infected with Bolbophorus spp. were found in 0.8% of the snails examined; found in juvenile snails (4 mm), and could shed 3,200 cercariae/day, and shed these cercariae for up to 21 days. This data indicated that constant snail monitoring and persistent snail control is imperative to control P. trivolvis in catfish ponds
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