Digital Commons Network^™

Marketing Professionals' Perceptions Of Personally Branded Wesites, Neil Hair, Christopher Adams

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Marketing professionals are increasingly recognizing the internet as a channel for branding themselves and their expertise in an increasingly competitive landscape. In this context, the study of personal branding in the online arena has become more relevant than ever before. This in-depth study observes the perceptions of 20 marketing professionals to websites set up by experts and consultants attempting to brand themselves online. Using personal construct theory the study identifies ten themes and 35 sub categories. These include the ability of the site to relate personally to the visitor, design and aesthetics, site presence and updatedness and sales pressure amongst …

On Law's Tiebreakers, Adam M. Samaha

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Tiebreakers are familiar tools for decisionmaking. Ready examples include penalty shootouts in soccer matches and vice presidents breaking tie votes in the Senate. But we lack a precise understanding of the concept and a normative theory for the use of tiebreakers. This Article strictly defines a tiebreaker as a kind of lexically inferior decision rule and then builds justifications for tiebreaking decision structures. Concentrating on situations in which ties are considered intolerable, the Article suggests methods for either preventing ties or designing sensible tiebreakers. As to the latter, tradeoffs are identified for the use of random variables, morally relevant variables, …

Pre-Employment Screening And Investigation: Navigating Between A Rock And A Hard Place, Stephen F. Befort

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No abstract provided.

Custody Investigations In Divorce-Custody Litigation, Robert Levy

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Divorce custody litigation has been a social success. Despite the continuing complaints of participants-judges, lawyers, social and behavioral experts, the parents-the vast majority of couples who want to terminate their marriages and allocate control and responsibility for their children have been able to accomplish their goals relatively efficiently. And, if the law and government actors have not been terribly successful or efficient in resolving parental custody disputes that the parents' lawyers have not been able to settle, it has not been for lack of trying. Custody litigation is difficult, emotional, and unrewarding, for all participants (even financially, lawyers claim, because …

The Social, Psychological, And Political Causes Of Racial Disparities In The American Criminal Justice System, Michael Tonry

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No abstract provided.

Insurance Demand Anomalies And Regulation, Daniel Schwarcz

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No abstract provided.

Framing Justice: Media, Bias, And Legal Decisionmaking, Perry L. Moriearty

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During the 1990s, the news media saturated the American public with stories and images of glassy-eyed, teenaged “superpredators,” who allegedly killed and maimed for sport. These violent, dark and “morally impoverished” youth were running wild in our city streets was the message, and unless we did something, they would destroy the very moral fabric of our society. Drawing on recent social science studies, which demonstrate that the graphic and racialized content of crime news coverage can increase consumers’ cognitive bias in imperceptible, but determinative ways, I argue that exposure to the “superpredator” narrative may have had a discernable impact on …

The Process Of Balancing, Oren Gross

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No abstract provided.

Initial Reflections On An Evolving Standard: Constraints On Risk Taking By Directors And Officers In Germany And The United States, Wulf A. Kaal, Richard W. Painter

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No abstract provided.

Justification Norms Under Uncertainty: A Preliminary Inquiry, Claire Hill

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People making decisions under uncertainty may need to justify those decisions to their reputational community. This Essay considers when and how the potential need to justify might lead a decision-maker to employ a methodology better suited to yielding a justifiable choice that may not be the best choice. When a decision involves uncertainty, the possible outcomes and probabilities are not known. A broad consensus about a methodology that produces a good decision often may not exist. But norms will often arise as to acceptable methodologies - that is, methodologies that will be accepted as justifiable if justification is needed. The …

Berle's Vision Beyond Shareholder Interests: Why Investment Bankers Should Have (Some) Personal Liability, Claire Hill, Richard W. Painter

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This paper, published in a symposium on the work of Adolf Berle, approaches the Berle-Dodd debate from the perspective that corporate managers have responsibilities beyond pursuing the interests of shareholders. Stock based executive compensation, designed to align managers’ interests with those of shareholders, has, in the investment banking industry in particular, failed to avert, and may have caused, managers to take excessive risks that in the 2008 financial crisis inflicted great damage on creditors and on society as a whole. We describe here the broad outlines of a proposal that we will discuss in future publications in more detail to …

Phenomenological Views And Analysis Of Culinary Arts Student Attitudes To National And International Internships: The “Nature Of Being” Before, During, And After International Internship, Frank Cullen

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This article presents the results of research conducted between 2006 and 2007 as part of a 4-year study on culinary internships. The article explores what can be described as the culinary life, developing a picture of working in a kitchen. It then compares and contrasts the work of key writers in the area of internship. Phenomenological views are provided and quantitative data analyzed from the 2006 and 2007 cohorts of students studying for a bachelor of arts in culinary arts to establish their attitudes toward international internships. The research found that gaps existed between the attitudes of the 2006 and …

If I Had A Hammer: Can Shepardizing, Synthesis, And Other Tools Of Legal Writing Help Build Hope For Law Students?, Edward R. Becker

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Are lawyers mechanics? In 1920, photographer Lewis Hines took a striking photo of a powerhouse mechanic sure-handedly wielding a large wrench to tighten bolts on a steam pump. This picture may bring to mind many things, but I suspect that many legal writing professors in our (past or present) incarnations as practicing attorneys would not look at this image and think, "My job is a lot like that." Similarly, I assume that many of our students do not think of a lawyer's role in this way. Indeed, many of our students might have chosen to pursue a career in law …

What Scribner Wrought: How The Invention Of Modern Dialysis Shaped Health Law And Policy, Sallie Thieme Sanford [email protected]

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In March 1960, Clyde Shields, a machinist dying from incurable kidney disease, was connected to an "artificial kidney" by means of a U-shaped Teflon tube that came to be known as the Scribner shunt. By facilitating long-term dialysis, Dr. Belding Scriber’s invention changed chronic kidney failure from a fatal illness to a treatable condition. This medical advance has, in turn, had a profound impact on key areas of health law and policy. This paper focuses on the historical roots and current context of three interrelated areas: ethical allocation of scarce medical resources; public financing of expensive health care; and decisions …

Closing Argument: Connecting The Dots For The Jury, Maureen A. Howard

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A common error made by unseasoned attorneys when giving closing argument is retelling the “story” of their case. Storytelling is best used in opening statement, not closing argument. By the time the jurors hear closing argument, they are well acquainted with the story, because they have heard two opening statements and all the evidence.

Closing argument, as the name suggests, is instead the time to argue. This means that in addition to revisiting the theme(s) presented in opening statement, a lawyer may use rhetorical questions, draw conclusions and inferences from the evidence, discuss the credibility of the witness, examine the …

Baseball's Moral Hazard: Law, Economics, And The Designated Hitter Rule, Dustin E. Buehler, Steve P. Calandrillo

Articles

No subject prompts greater disagreement among baseball fans than the designated hitter rule, which allows teams to designate a player to hit for the pitcher. The rule increases the number of hit batsmen, and some have suggested this effect is a result of "moral hazard," which recognizes that persons insured against risk are more likely to engage in dangerous behavior. Because American League pitchers do not bat, they allegedly are not deterred by the full cost of making risky, inside pitches—namely, retribution during their next at bat.

Using a law-and-economics approach, this Article concludes that the designated hitter rule creates …

Regulating Consumer Demand In Insurance Markets, Daniel Schwarcz

Articles

In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that Expected Utility Theory (EUT) is a remarkably poor theory of how and why individuals purchase insurance. However, the normative implications of this conclusion have remained largely unexplored. This Article takes up this issue. It argues that many observed deviations from EUT are likely the result of mistakes, in the sense that consumers would act differently than they do if they possessed perfect information and cognitive resources. From this perspective, regulatory interventions designed to improve consumer decision-making about insurance are potentially desirable. At the same time, the Article argues that some deviations …

National Security And The Article Ii Shell Game, Heidi Kitrosser

Articles

This essay considers the important but under-explored link between politics and constitutional interpretation in the realm of national security. The school of constitutional interpretation at which it looks is “presidential exclusivity,” which has gone from relative obscurity to prominence in the political branches and in public debate over the past several decades. Exclusivists deem the President to have substantial discretion under Article II of the Constitution to override statutory limits that he believes interfere with his ability to protect national security. The first question that this essay takes up is why exclusivity has come so far over the past several …

Concepts, Categories, And Compliance In The Regulatory State, Kristin Hickman, Claire Hill

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Law is, of course, always a product of its history. But for some regimes, history matters both more and differently than for others. In some instances, the requirements and scope of a regulatory regime’s coverage are sufficiently attenuated from statutory text and purpose that they can only be explained or understood by reference to history. At its (perhaps caricatured) extreme, such a regime is one in which regulated parties expend significant efforts attempting to comply with the law and often succeed in complying at the most minimal level possible, to the point that compliance is perceived as optional and, to …

A Burkean Perspective On Patent Eligibility, Part Ii: Reflections On The (Counter)Revolution In Patent Law, Thomas F. Cotter

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In 2007, I published an essay in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, titled A Burkean Perspective on Patent Eligibility, in which I discussed how the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Patent and Trademark Office had discarded various doctrines relating to patent eligibility - among them, rules that all patentable inventions must pertain to the technological arts, that they may not read on mental steps, and that patentable processes must effect a physical transformation - in favor of an approach that asked only whether an invention had practical utility and was predictable in …

Returning Home: Women In Post-Conflict Societies, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Haynes, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

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This paper explores the situation of women returning to their homes and communities after their countries have experienced major conflicts. In that context, it assesses the range of barriers and challenges that women face and offers some thinking to addresses and remedy these complex issues. As countries face the transition process, they can begin to measure the conflict’s impact on the population and the civil infrastructure. Not only have people been displaced from their homes, but, typically, health clinics, schools, roads, businesses, and markets have deteriorated substantially. While the focus is on humanitarian aid in the midst of and during …

Macular Pigment And Its Contribution To Visual Performance And Experience, James Loughman, Peter Davison, John Nolan, Mukunda Akkali, Stephen Beatty

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There is now a consensus, based on histological, biochemical and spectral absorption data, that the yellow colour observed at the macula lutea is a consequence of the selective accumulation of dietary xanthophylls in the central retina of the living eye. Scientifi c research continues to explore the function(s) of MP in the human retina, with two main hypotheses premised on its putative capacity to (1) protect the retina from (photo)-oxidative damage by means of its optical fi ltration and/or antioxidant properties, the so-called protective hypothesis and (2) infl uence the quality of visual performance by means of selective short wavelength …

The Truth About Haiti, Irwin P. Stotzky

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No abstract provided.

Learning Disabled Student Needs Met Through Curriculum Redesign Of The Illinois Agricultural Education Core Curriculum, Seburn L. Pense, Dennis G. Watson, Dexter B. Wakefield

Articles

This quasi–experimental pilot study included agricultural education students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) in five high schools in the federally designated economically distressed area called the Illinois Delta Region. A unit of instruction taken from the existing 165 units of The Illinois Core Curriculum for Agriculture was redesigned in a manner appropriate to SLD students. Students from the five selected programs were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Results from pre– and posttests in this study found the redesigned curriculum for SLD students effectively increased learning for both SLD and traditional students.

The Filaments Of The Vicarious, Jospeh Vining

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Forty years is the unit of work in focus here. You have or will have units of forty years of your own, a unit of work like this. I hope what you are doing for me is also for you and your work and your encourage-ment about the decades behind you or to come. I can best respond to your generosity with a look back at the course of this effort of mine and its internal and external connections over time, to illustrate and help us keep in mind the way we mutually influence each other in our thought and …

The Invention Of Common Law Play Right, Jessica D. Litman

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This Article explores playwrights' common law "play right." Since this conference celebrates the 300th birthday of the Statute of Anne, I begin in England in the 17th Century. I find no trace of a common law playwright's performance right in either the law or the customary practices surrounding 17th and 18th century English theatre. I argue that the nature and degree of royal supervision of theatre companies and performance during the period presented no occasion (and, indeed, left no opportunity) for such a right to arise. I discuss the impetus for Parliament's enactment of a performance right statute in 1833, …

Consumer Awareness In The Adoption Of Microgeneration Technologies: An Empirical Investigation In The Republic Of Ireland, Marius Claudy, Claus Michelsen, Aidan O'Driscoll, Michael Mullen

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Despite major policy and marketing efforts, the uptake of microgeneration technologies in most European countries remains low. Whereas most academic studies and policy reports aim to identify the underlying reasons why people buy these new technologies, they often fail to assess the general level of consumer awareness. The process of adopting an innovation, however, shows that awareness is a prerequisite which needs to be understood before adoption can be addressed. This paper takes a closer look at awareness of microgeneration and presents the results from a nationally representative study conducted in the Republic of Ireland. Findings from logistic regressions clearly …

Young People's Use Of Online Social Networking Sites :A Uses And Gratifications Perspective, Aine Dunne, Margaret-Anne Lawlor, Jennifer Rowley

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Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore why young people use and participate in social networking sites (SNS) with specific reference to Bebo. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach is employed in this study with a view to exploring the uses and gratifications that girls aged 12 to 14 years, both seek and obtain from the Bebo social networking site. The research was conducted in a school setting in Ireland. Findings – The findings indicate that the participants are actively using Bebo for their own personal motives and gratifications in terms of presenting and managing a certain …

Assessing The Application Of 3d Collaborative Interfaces Within An Immersive Virtual University, Gavin Mcardle, Bianca Schoen-Phelan, Michela Bortolotto

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The need to stimulate and engage students is of paramount importance within any learning scenario. Despite this, recent developments in online learning have failed to take this requirement into account. As a result e-learning courses which utilise traditional online learning management systems have a higher dropout rate than their classroom based counterparts. The attrition rate is attributed to boredom with the interfaces used to deliver learning material and also to the lack of opportunities to interact socially with others. Furthermore, being in a virtual environment imposes a whole new set of challenges onto users due to the distinct lack of …

No Longer, But Not Yet: Tweens And The Mediating Of Liminal Selves Through Metaconsumption, Kevina Cody, Katrina Lawlor, Pauline Mcclaren

Articles

Using the anthropological theory of liminality as a lens of analysis, the following paper outlines specific elements of a research project exploring the consumer culture of a liminal group – tweens. The lived experience of a tween is explored using a multi-method approach incorporating personal diaries, in-depth interviews and accompanied shopping trips. Outcomes of one aspect of this longitudinal research project – the theory of metaconsumption - are presented, suggesting an important divergent theoretical path from the ‘effects’ - dominated consumer socialization approach to researching young people and their relationships with consumption. We conclude that those in a shadowed reality, …