bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Coding Creativity: Copyright and the Artificially Intelligent Author
Authors: Bridy Annemarie
Published: July 2018

For more than a quarter century, interest among copyright scholars in the question of AI authorship has waxed and waned as the popular conversation about AI has oscillated between exaggerated predictions for its future and premature pronouncements of its death. For policymakers, the issue has sat on the horizon, always within view but never actually pressing. To recognize this fact, however, is not to say that we can or should ignore the challenge that AI authorship presents to copyright law's underlying assumptions about creativity. On the contrary, the relatively slow development of AI offers a reprieve from the reactive, crisis-driven model of policymaking that has dominated copyright law in the digital era.By engaging and extending insights from two relatively discrete lines of existing scholarship - the postmodern critique of romantic authorship and the more pragmatic literature on copyright in works produced with the aid of computers - this Article seeks to answer the vexing copyright questions that arise from the artificially intelligent production of cultural works. It does so by developing the argument that all creativity is inherently algorithmic and that works produced autonomously by computers are therefore less heterogeneous to both their human counterparts and the current structure of copyright law than appearances may at first suggest.Annemarie BridyProfessor|University of Idaho College of Law|PO Box 83720-0051|Boise, ID 83720|Ph. 208.364.4583Affiliate Scholar|Stanford Center for Internet and SocietyAffiliate Fellow|Yale Information Society ProjectSSRN|HeinOnline|LinkedIn|Twitter
The Effect of Memory Strategy Training on Vocabulary Learning by EFL Female Students of the College of Languages and Translation: An Experimental Study
Authors: Journal Arab World English , Alzaidi Ghadah Fahad
Published: July 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of memory strategies (MSs)in improving students' ability to recall and spell newly learned vocabulary items. The researcheronly considered three types of MSs: grouping, placing new words in to a context and structuredreviewing. In addition, the study used a questionnaire that explored students' attitudes towardsMSs in general, and towards the specific MSs that they have been trained to use, as well as therelationship between MSs and motivation and between MSs and anxiety. intact groups (63 students in total) were selected from level three of the College of Languages and Translation (COLT) at King Saud University (KSU), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The two groups were assigned to the experimental group (36 students) and the control group(27students). The control group received traditional instruction that depended on the textbook without any MS training, whereas the experimental group received a combination of traditional instruction and MS training. A pre- and post-test were administered to both groups before and after the experiment to examine students' ability to recall the meaning of vocabulary items and their ability to spell them correctly. The experiment lasted for fourteen weeks through which the participants received seven MS training sessions. The study found out that MS training was effective in improving students' ability to recall the meaning of vocabulary items when needed and their ability to spell them correctly. Moreover, the results showed that the subjects of the experimental group showed positive attitude towards MSs and most of them agreed on the positive effect that MSs had on raising their motivation and reducing their anxiety while learning vocabulary.
Black and Hispanic Representation in Policing: Organizational and Local Labor Market Context
Authors: willow Moriah , Cohen Philip N.
Published: July 2018

Recent events, such as highly visible police shootings, have highlighted the underrepresentation of racial minorities in U.S. policing. Past research has found a strong relationship between the local concentrations of a racial minority group and increased representation among police, as well as evidence of the disparate treatment of Blacks and Hispanics by White police officers. Using confidential, establishment-level public employment data on police departments from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, linked to Census local labor market data, we examine how department size and local demographic dynamics are associated with Black/Hispanic underrepresentation in policing. We find that police departments in labor markets with larger Black and Hispanic populations, and those with a greater number of officers on their force, are more likely to report underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic officers relative to the labor market. However, the effect of local population composition is reduced for bigger departments, suggesting a positive effect of organization visibility on minority police integration. In addition, the presence of Blacks and Hispanics in top leadership positions is positively associated with proportional representation, suggesting that minorities in leadership positions may have a beneficial impact on Black and Hispanic officer hiring.
To Filter or Not to Filter? That Is the Question in EU Copyright Reform
Authors: Frosio Giancarlo
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the proposed introduction in EU law of an obligation for hosting providers to conclude licencing agreements with copyright holders and ensure their functioning by taking effective technological measures — such as content id technologies — to prevent copyright infringement on online platforms. This proposal is included in Article 13 — and accompanying Recitals — of the European Commission’s Draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market of September 14, 2016, which forms an important part of the ongoing EU copyright reform. This article highlights the shortcoming of this proposed reform, which might fall short in terms of clarity, consistency with the EU acquis, appropriacy and proportionality. In doing so, the article discusses recent CJEU case law — such as GSMedia, Ziggo and Filmspeler — struggling with the notion of communication to the public in the digital environment. It highlights systemic inconsistencies between the traditional knowledge-and-take-down negligence-based intermediary liability system and the introduction of filtering and monitoring obligations. The article examines the appropriacy of filtering — and monitoring — measures within a fundamental rights perspective by considering proportionality between property rights’ enforcement and competing fundamental rights — such as freedom of expression, freedom of business and privacy. The critical review of the proposed reform serves as an opportunity to briefly advance an alternative proposal seeking a more pragmatical engagement with technological change through an arrangement enforcing a liability rule or an apportionment of profits and producing value for creators out of platform economy’s virality, while limiting negative externalities on users’ rights.
Beliefs about Money in Families: Balancing Unity, Autonomy, and Gender Equality
Authors: Pepin Joanna R.
Published: July 2018

Objective: This study provides the first nationally representative data on U.S. adults' perceptions of income sharing within families.Background: Modern couples confront tensions between ideals of mutual interests and values of economic autonomy, a departure from fitting themselves into culturally expected family arrangements of the past. This study teases apart the conditions under which people might prioritize one cultural value over another.Method: The author conducted a nationally representative survey experiment (N = 3,986 individuals). The respondents selected an income allocation arrangement for a fictional couple with varied relationships investments (i.e., marriage, parenthood, length of relationship) and earning disparities.Results: Although stronger relationship investments were associated with greater support for sharing all income, the most commonly selected income allocation arrangement was a hybrid arrangement of sharing some income and keeping the rest separate. When respondents preferred some amount of financial autonomy, the primary earner was expected to maintain ownership of a greater amount of the total household income. The preferred level of withholding income was slightly larger in magnitude when women were shown as the primary earner when compared with men shown as the primary earner.Conclusion: The pursuit of economic autonomy, in combination with beliefs about gender, are important dimensions of gender inequality located within families.
The Effects of Formative Assessment on Algerian Secondary School Pupils’ Text Comprehension
Authors: Journal Arab World English , BOUMEDIENE Amina
Published: July 2018

Formative assessment has proved its potential in improving the learning outcomes of EFL learners. However, its use is quite restricted in the Algerian secondary school. Thus, instead of playing a formative role, the assessment found in the Algerian EFL classroom is of a summative nature. Accordingly, the purpose behind the current research is to shed light on the importance of formative assessment in the teaching and learning processes by highlighting its effect on text comprehension, as the latter may be an obstacle to effective language learning and academic achievement among Algerian secondary school pupils. To reach this end, the present research attempts to investigate the impact of formative assessment on pupils’ text comprehension as well as their achievement and attitudes through answering the following research questions: (1) how does formative assessment develop pupils’ text comprehension? (2) What changes can the experiment bring in terms of students’ achievements and attitudes towards text comprehension? This research is based on a quasi-experimental design delivered to sixteen third year secondary school pupils as the latter are required to sit for the ‘Baccalaureate’ exam in which text comprehension is of crucial importance. A pretest, a posttest, an intervention which lasted five weeks and a questionnaire were used to find out the impact of formative assessment on the development of pupil’s text comprehension. The results obtained showed a significant progress in pupils’ outcomes in the four language competences: grammatical, textual, functional and sociolinguistic and namely in grammatical and textual competences. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that formative assessment should be an integral part of the teaching process.
Brief Amici Curiae of Experts in the History of Executive Surveillance: James Bamford, Loch Johnson, and Peter Fenn in First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. National Security Agency
Authors: Urban Jennifer
Published: July 2018

*Abstract: *This case presents pressing questions regarding the executive's power to collect, store, and use Americans' telephony and other personal data for the purposes of conducting surveillance operations.In the wake of recent disclosures revealing National Security Agency data collection programs, the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles and 21 other membership and political advocacy organizations filed this lawsuit to challenge the NSA's collection of telephony data as an infringement of their members' First and Fourth Amendment rights.In this amicus brief, experts in the history of American surveillance -- James Bamford, author of The Puzzle Palace; Peter Fenn, who served as Washington Chief of Staff for Senator Frank Church and as a staff member to the Senate Intelligence Committee; and Dr. Loch Johnson, who served as special assistant to the Church Committee chair and as staff director of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence Oversight -- explain the historical parallels between the executive surveillance programs that are presently coming to light and the development of abusive surveillance practices from the 1940s to the 1970s.All amici were directly involved in the comprehensive review of twentieth-century American intelligence operations completed by the Church Committee in the 1970s, giving them a uniquely thorough understanding of these parallels.Drawing from the experts’ extensive knowledge, the brief explains the clear parallels between the development and growth of the abusive practices of the mid-twentieth century -- when American intelligence agencies helped conduct politically motivated surveillance of Americans ranging from ordinary teachers, journalists and peace activists to civil rights leaders, members of Congress, and a Supreme Court justice -- and today’s vast surveillance programs. History shows that abusive surveillance does not require bad actors to grow and flourish: instead, it is the natural outgrowth of too much secrecy and too little oversight by other branches of government.In light of this clear historical pattern, the brief argues that the court should carefully apply existing legal limits on the government’s surveillance powers to address the risks posed by the executive branch and the intelligence agencies’ claims to expansive power to determine the limits of their own activities.Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2353719
Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market
Authors: Kang Sonia , DeCelles Katy , Tilcsik András , Jun Sora
Published: July 2018

Using interviews, a laboratory experiment, and a résumé audit study, we examine racial minorities’ attempts to avoid anticipated discrimination in labor markets by concealing or downplaying racial cues in job applications, a practice known as “résumé whitening.” Interviews with racial minority university students reveal that while some minority job seekers reject this practice, others view it as essential and use a variety of whitening techniques. Building on the qualitative findings, we conduct a lab study to examine how racial minority job seekers change their résumés in response to different job postings. Results show that when targeting an employer that presents itself as valuing diversity, minority job applicants engage in relatively little résumé whitening and thus submit more racially transparent résumés. Yet our audit study of how employers respond to whitened and unwhitened résumés shows that organizational diversity statements are not actually associated with reduced discrimination against unwhitened résumés. Taken together, these findings suggest a paradox: minorities may be particularly likely to experience disadvantage when they apply to ostensibly pro-diversity employers. These findings illuminate the role of racial concealment and transparency in modern labor markets and point to an important interplay between the self-presentation of employers and the self-presentation of job seekers in shaping economic inequality.
Formation Stories and Causality in Sociology
Authors: Hirschman Daniel , Reed Isaac Ariail
Published: July 2018

Sociologists have long been interested in understanding the emergence of new social kinds. We argue that sociologists’ formation stories have been mischaracterized as noncausal, descriptive, or interpretive. Traditional “forcing-cause” accounts describe regularized relations between fixed entities with specific properties. The three dominant approaches to causality—variable causality, treatments and manipulations, and mechanisms—all refer to forcing causes. But formation stories do not fit the forcing-causes framework because accounts of formation violate the assumptions that ground forcing-cause accounts and instead emphasize eventfulness, assemblage, and self-representation. Yet these accounts are, we argue, fundamentally causal. In particular, formation stories provide the historical, empirical boundaries for the functioning of forcing-cause accounts. We catalog the breadth of formation stories in sociology and use examples from diverse literatures to highlight how thinking of formation stories as causal accounts can improve our understanding of the relationship of history and culture to causal analysis.
Museums, collectors, and value manipulation: tax fraud through donation of antiquities
Authors: Yates Donna
Published: July 2018

PurposeTo discuss the key aspects of the international trade in antiquities and the practice of philanthropic donation of object to museums that allow for certain types of tax deduction manipulation using a case of tax deduction manipulation from Australia and a case of tax fraud from the United States as examples.Design/methodology/approachTwo thoroughly researched case studies are presented which illustrate the particular features of current and past antiquities donation incentivization schemes which leave them open to manipulation and fraud.FindingsThe valuation of antiquities is subjective and problematic and the operations of both the antiquities market and the museums sector are traditionally opaque. Because of this tax incentivisation of antiquities donations, is susceptible to fraud.Originality/valueThis paper presents the mechanisms of the antiquities market and museum world to an audience that is not familiar with it. It then clearly demonstrates how the traditional practices of this world can be manipulated for the purposes of tax fraud. Two useful case studies are presented and one of these case studies has never been academically published before, despite it being the cause for a change in Australian tax law.
A Perceptive Determination of Self-Perceived Listening Comprehension Strategies Employed by Saudi English-major University Undergraduates
Authors: Journal Arab World English , Al-Malki Eidah Abdullah
Published: July 2018

This cross-sectional survey aims at investigating Saudi English-major university undergraduates about their self-perceived listening comprehension strategies they employ to comprehend listening texts. To generate data for this empirical study, a 5-point strongly agree to strongly disagree Likert-scale questionnaire has been adapted and standardized steps were followed to ensure the reliability and validity of the instrument. Arabic version of the questionnaire was administered to randomly selected male and female Saudi English-major university undergraduates studying at foreign languages department during their regular teaching session to generate data. Descriptive analyses were run to calculate percentages, means and standard deviation. The results inform that the participants of this study prefer to use cognitive strategies the most followed by metacognitive strategies. Socio-affective strategies were reported to be used the least by this group. This trend offers valuable insights into the fact that Saudi English as a foreign language (EFL) learners resort to bottom-up strategies more frequently as compared to the top-down ones. It is recommended that Saudi EFL learners should be made aware of the significance of these strategies to enhance their listening comprehension. English language teachers should provide their students with appropriate skills of how to listen, retrospect on listening process and concentrate on practicing metacognitive and socio-affective strategies during their listening tasks. It is also recommended that teachers should provide their students with this confidence and courage to talk about their listening problems as well as the strategies they have used to tackle those problems.
European Identity and Redistributive Preferences
Authors: Costa-Font Joan , Cowell Frank
Published: July 2018

How important is spatial identity in shifting preferences for redistribution? This paper takes advantage of within-country variability in the adoption of a single currency as an instrument to examine the impact of the rescaling of spatial identity in Europe. We draw upon data from the last three decades of waves of the European Values Survey and we examine the impact of joining the single currency on preferences for redistribution. Our instrumentation strategy relies on using the exogenous effect of joining a common currency, alongside a battery of robustness checks and alternative instruments. Our findings suggest that joining the euro has a boosting effect on European identity; an opposite and comparable effect is found for national pride. We find that European identity increases preferences for redistribution, and that national pride exerts an equivalent reduction in preferences for redistribution.
Pearl in Hawthorne’s the Scarlet Letter: a Socio-Religious Perspective
Authors: Studies AWEJ for Translation & Literary , Hariyanti Tatit , Nurhayati Dwi
Published: July 2018

The relationship between literature and religion is still most often confined to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, and it is used to recommend the analysis of the bible as literature and religious aspect of literary works. This paper aims at exploring the possibility that literature could be an alternative means to do comparative studies of certain religious aspects from different religion. It focuses on the name and the significance of the name of Pearl in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter which alludes to the Bible. This paper however will examine the name from different angle; that is from an Islamic point of view, for the purpose of a comparison. Pearl is also mentioned in Al-Qur’an and some Hadiths; therefore they will be the main sources to analyze the view on pearl. The result is that The Scarlet Letter shows the vivid image of Pearl in Islam. Pearls in Islam have both worldly and spiritual significance with their special characteristics such as being natural, beautiful, pure, invaluable and demanding great price and effort to gain them. Relating to the character of Pearl in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as having such characteristics .
Income Inequality and Class Divides in Parental Investments
Authors: Schneider Daniel , Hastings Orestes P , LaBriola Joe
Published: July 2018

Historic increases in income inequality have coincided with widening class divides in parental investments of money and time in children. These widening class gaps are significant because parental investment is one pathway by which advantage is transmitted across generations. Using over three decades of micro-data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the American Heritage Time Use Survey linked to state-year measures of income inequality, we test the relationship between income inequality and class gaps in parental investment. We find robust evidence of wider class gaps in parental financial investments in children—but not parental time investments in children—when state-level income inequality is higher. We explore mechanisms that may drive the relationship between rising income inequality and widening class gaps in parental financial investments in children. This relationship is partially explained by the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution in state-years with higher inequality, which gives higher-earning households more money to spend on financial investments in children. In addition, we find evidence for contextual effects of higher income inequality that reshape parental preferences toward financial investment in children differentially by class.
Drinking with and without fun: Female students’ accounts of pre-drinking and club-drinking
Authors: Bancroft Angus
Published: July 2018

Pre-drinking, also known as pre-partying, pre-gaming, and front- or pre-loading, is the intensive pair or group consumption of alcohol in a private home prior to going out for the night, with the intention of ensuring maximum levels of intoxication. It has emerged as a distinct component of heavy drinking practice among young adults approximately between the ages of 18-25. This paper examines reflective accounts of female students’ pre-drinking and club-drinking. It explores the experience of pre-drinking in the context of the overall drinking sequence undertaken throughout the evening in and the night out. It finds that pre-drinking has a specific purpose for young women in managing risk, as well as ensuring a shared level of intoxication in preparation for entry into public drinking spaces. Their accounts illustrate the performative nature of intoxication. Pre-drinking is highly directed, bounded, and ritualised. It was frequently, though not always, recounted as lacking in pleasure for these reasons. It was associated with preparation for entry to a particular kind of superpub or nightclub especially, where the emphasis was on further rapid alcohol consumption. Accounts of continued drinking in the nightclubs were dualistic, emphasising pleasure and disgust, along with risk and vulnerability. Risk was experienced as individualised, and the women had shared responsibility for guarding against risk from unsafe others in the nightclub environment. This coding of risk is supported by public health messages targeted at women drinkers and by the more general societal and drinks industry promoted representation of alcohol consumption as normal and abstinence as deviant, which students were critical of. One attraction of pre-drinking for female students was as a way of protecting and supporting female agency in conditions of generalised, individualised vulnerability.
Distinguishing Lost Profits from Reasonable Royalties
Authors: Lemley Mark
Published: July 2018

Patent damages are designed to compensate patentees for their losses, notto punish accused infringers or require them to disgorge their profits. Thestatute provides for damages "adequate to compensate for the infringement,but in no event less than a reasonable royalty." Courts interpreting thisprovision have divided patent damages into two groups - lost profits,available to patent owners who would have made sales in the absence ofinfringement, and reasonable royalties, available to everyone else.Traditionally, patentees want to prove lost profits, because only thatmeasure captures the monopoly value of exclusion of competitors from themarket. As the statutory language suggests, reasonable royalties exist as afloor or backstop for those who cannot prove that they have lost profits asa result of infringement.In practice, however, the lines between lost profits and reasonableroyalties are blurring. In significant part this is because courts haveinsisted on strict standards of proof for entitlement to lost profits.Specifically, patentees must prove demand for the patented product, theabsence of noninfringing substitutes, the ability to meet additional demandin the absence of infringement, and the proportion of those sales thatrepresent profits. This in turn means that many patent owners who have infact probably lost sales to infringement cannot prove lost profits damages,and turn to the reasonable royalty measure. The result is that courts havedistorted the reasonable royalty measure in various ways, adding "kickers"to increase damages, artificially raising the reasonable royalty rate, orimporting inapposite concepts like the "entire market value rule" in aneffort to compensate patent owners whose real remedy probably should havebeen in the lost profits category.In Part I, I explain the strict requirements for proving lost profits, andgive examples of patentees who have failed to meet these requirements. InPart II, I explain how relegating these patentees to reasonable royaltieshas led to problematic changes in reasonable royalty law. Finally, Isuggest in Part III that courts should draw a sharp division between theinjury suffered by patentees who compete with infringers and those who donot. Patentees who compete should be entitled to the best estimate of lostprofits, even if not all elements of proof are available. Doing so willavoid overcompensating patent owners in reasonable royalty cases.
Gendered Representation and Critical Mass: Women’s Legislative Representation and Social Spending in 22 OECD Countries
Authors: Park Soon Seok
Published: July 2018

To better understand the dynamics of representation of women’s interests such as public expenditure on healthcare, daycare, and education, this study examines statistical evidence for the notion of critical mass. To do so, this study uses the Comparative Welfare Data Set and the piecewise regression method to produce two linear models that best fit to the data for different ranges of the share of seats in parliament held by women. The analysis fails to find consistent support for a threshold below which women legislators have little-to-no impact upon policy outcomes. By adjudicating seven hypothetical thresholds, the analysis also shows that when there is a critical mass effect, the 10 percent level is more a consequential threshold than 15, 20, or 30 percent levels. Findings suggest that we reject the idea of a critical threshold for women’s legislative representation. However, the relationship between the representation and social spending is robust with or without presumed critical mass.
The Politics of Collective Repair. Examining Object-Relations in a Postwork Society.
Authors: Graziano Valeria , Trogal Kim
Published: July 2018

In this article we look at repair as an emergent focus of recent activism in affluent societies, where a number of groups are reclaiming practices of repair as a form of political and ecological action. Ranging from those that fight for legislative change to those groups who are trying to support ecological and social change through everyday life practices, repair is beginning to surface tensions in everyday life and as such poses opportunities for its transformation. We survey a few ofthe practices that make up this movement in its various articulations, to take stock of their current political import.While we suggest that these practices can be seen as an emergent lifestyle movement, they should not be seen as presenting a unified statement. Rather, we aim to show that they articulate a spectrum of political positions, particularly in relation to the three specific issues of property, pedagogy and sociality. These three dimensions are all facets of current internal discrepancies of repair practices and moreover express potential bifurcations as this movement evolves. Drawing on a diverse methodology that includes discourse analysis and participant observation, we suggest some of the ways in which this growing area of activity could play a significant role in resisting the commodification of the everyday and inventing postwork alternatives.
First Contact with Possible Futures
Authors: Oman-Reagan Michael P.
Published: July 2018

This paper engages with the figure of the "exoethnologist" in Carolyn Ives Gilman's "Twenty Planets" series of science fiction books to ask about the promise of speculative ethnography for imagining and working toward futures beyond the "fascist now."Keywords: ethnography, anthropology, speculative fiction, science fiction, futures, interstellar, outer space, methodsPlease cite as:Oman-Reagan, Michael P. 2018. "First Contact with Possible Futures." Speculative Anthropologies series, Theorizing the Contemporary, Cultural Anthropology website, December 18. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/1626-first-contact-with-possible-futures
The Unnecessary Nudge: Education and Poverty Policy in a Cairo Slum
Authors: Gowayed Heba
Published: July 2018

Drawing on data collected from 2008 to 2013 in a low-income Cairo neighborhood, this article examines theimpact of a poverty alleviation program, a conditional cash transfer (CCT) that attempted to incentivizepoor mothers, through a direct cash transfer, to send their children to school. The program met its goal. Themothers did send their children to school. I argue that only observing this outcome of school access, however,black-boxes the causal pathway of how mothers sent their children to school in the Egyptian context, andhow the program mattered. Public schools in Egypt are free on paper but expensive in practice due to aninformal system of “private lesson” and “study group” fees imposed by teachers. Mothers had always managedthis expense, using scarce gendered household resources, before, during, and after the program.Through ethnographic, interview, and survey data, this article shows that while the cash—transferred to themothers and labeled for education—enabled the mothers to send their children to school, the program conditionswere unnecessary. The mothers did not need to be nudged to send their children to school. This Egyptiancase study has implications for the use of behavioral incentives and for the importance of qualitativemethods to the study of policy impacts.
Beneficial effects of accurate and false brief biofeedback on relaxation
Authors: Strunk Kamden K
Published: July 2018

Much research has focused on the efficacy of biofeedback therapy; however, previous studies only compared biofeedback treatment with no-treatment conditions or using pre- and post-test data. Examination of biofeedback relaxation therapy with a false-feedback condition could produce data on physiological changes suitable to clarify findings. Sixty-three participants were randomly assigned to either a accurate or a false feedback condition for a five-minute period. Analysis of the measures yielded significant differences in both groups between pre- and post-tests, but not between-groups, suggesting a potential placebo effect of biofeedback induced relaxation. Implications and limitations are discussed.
Solidarity or Schism: Ideological Congruence and the Twitter Networks of Egyptian Activists
Authors: Abul-Fottouh Deena , Fetner Tina
Published: July 2018

Social movements scholarship on the role of coalitions in advancing social change claims that communication across ideological boundaries can foster a collective identity among diverse groups of activists. New communications technology, especially activists' widespread adoption of social media, calls into question whether these claims apply equally to online social media-based coalitions. Using the case of the Egyptian revolution in the Arab Spring, we conduct a series of social network analyses of the Twitter networks of activists. We find that social movements coalitions theory accurately predicts the conditions under which coalitions form and dissolve for online activists, as it does for on-the-ground activists. Among activists of diverse ideologies, we identify a pattern of solidarity in the early days of the revolutionary period, followed by a period of schism after a military crackdown on protestors. This research extends social movements theory to the sphere of digital activism.
Max Weber's Disciples: Theorizing the Charismatic Aristocracy
Authors: Joosse Paul
Published: July 2018

While several studies have explored the interactional dynamics of charismatic power, most have neglected the role of what Weber termed the charismatic aristocracy. This article revives the classical concept to respond to contemporary calls for performative, followercentric approaches to charisma. Specifically, the charismatic aristocracy is placed at the center of an analysis of a reiterative moment in charismatization: when influential followers generate content for the emerging charismatic persona. In these germinal moments, the dialogical nature of charisma is most clear, precisely because it is then that charismatic leaders often are not themselves confident in their status and can be found responding to instructional cues—indeed following the lead—of those positioning themselves as obsequious followers. Drawing on 10 years of observations, multistage interviews, and media collections, I provide an interactionist account of the charismatic emergence of John de Ruiter, leader of a successful new religious movement. I conclude by tabling a model that conceives of the charismatic aristocracy as an important fulcrum for expectation, affectation, and recognition in charismatic interactions.
An Overview of Causal Directed Acyclic Graphs for Substance Abuse Researchers
Authors: Lewis Michael , Kuerbis Alexis
Published: July 2018

Background. Within substance abuse research, quantitative methodologists tend to view randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as the “gold standard” for estimating causal effects, in part due to experimental manipulation and random assignment. Such methods are not always possible due to ethical and other reasons. Causal directed acyclic graphs (causal DAGs) are mathematical tools for (1) precisely stating researchers' causal assumptions and (2) providing guidance regarding the specification of statistical models for causal inference with nonexperimental data (such as epidemiological data). Purpose. This manuscript describes causal DAGs and illustrates their use in regards to a long standing theory within the field of substance use: the gateway hypothesis. Design. Data from the 2013 National Survey of Drug Use and Health are utilized to illustrate the application of causal DAGs in model specification. Then using the model specification constructed via causal DAGs, logistic regression models are used to generate odds ratios of the likelihood of trying heroin, given that one has tried alcohol, marijuana, and/or tobacco. Conclusion. Granting the assumptions encoded in specific causal DAGs, researchers, even in the absence of RCTs, can identify and estimate causal effects of interest.
Fall Forward or Spring Back? Evaluating Student Outcomes of a Fall-Semester Transition Program at a Public Flagship University
Authors: Lapid Patrick Andrew
Published: July 2018

Does the structure of the first-year college experience affect students’ graduation outcomes? I investigate this question by evaluating UC Berkeley’s Fall Program for Freshmen (FPF), a fall-semester program for undergraduates admitted for the following spring semester. During the fall semester, FPF participants take introductory courses and receive advising at a separate campus blocks away from UC Berkeley, while living and socializing with regular UC Berkeley students; in the spring semester, FPF participants then matriculate to the main campus. I analyze UC Berkeley admissions and registrar data and show that FPF participants are similar to fall-semester matriculants in their admission characteristics and predicted graduation rates. However, across a variety of treatment effect models, I estimate that FPF participants have a 3–4 percentage-point increase in their four- and six-year graduation rates compared to fall-semester matriculants. FPF participants with below-median high school GPAs and SAT scores have larger increases in their likelihood to graduate. Estimates adjusted for unobservable selection bias (Oster, 2017) are similar in magnitude and direction to my main estimates.
The Biometric Imaginary: Bureaucratic Technopolitics in Post-Apartheid Welfare
Authors: Donovan Kevin P.
Published: July 2018

Starting in March 2012, the South African government engaged in a massive effort of citizen registration that continued for more than a year. Nearly 19 million social welfare beneficiaries enrolled in a novel biometric identification scheme that uses fingerprints and voice recognition to authenticate social grant recipients. This article seeks to understand the meaning of biometric technology in post-apartheid South African welfare through a study of the bureaucratic and policy elite's motivation. It argues that biometric technology was conceived of and implemented as the most recent in a series of institutional, infrastructural and policy reforms that seek to deliver welfare in a standardised and objective manner. This has, at times, been driven by a false faith in technical efficacy and has involved a playing down of the differential political implications of biometric welfare identification.
Unifying National Income Inequality and Regional Economic Divergence
Authors: Manduca Robert
Published: July 2018

After more than a century of convergence, the economic fortunes of rich and poor regions of the United States have diverged dramatically since 1980. The richest cities now have per capita incomes almost 40% greater than the nation as a whole, while the poorest ones have incomes 25% smaller. In this paper I use counterfactual simulations based on Census microdata to understand the dynamics of regional divergence. I first show that regional divergence has largely resulted from the richest people and places pulling away from the rest of the country. I then estimate the relative contributions to regional divergence of two major socioeconomic trends of the last 40 years: the sorting of people across metro areas by income level and the national rise in income inequality. I show that the national rise in income inequality is sufficient on its own to account for more than half of the observed divergence across regions, while income sorting on its own accounts for less than a quarter. The major driver of regional economic divergence is national-level income dispersion that has exacerbated preexisting spatial inequalities.
Understanding Popularity, Reputation, and Social Influence in the Twitter Society
Authors: Garcia David
Published: July 2018

The pervasive presence of online media in our society has transferred a significant part of political deliberation to online forums and social networking sites. This article examines popularity, reputation, and social influence on Twitter using large-scale digital traces from 2009 to 2016. We process network information on more than 40 million users, calculating new global measures of reputation that build on the D-core decomposition and the bow-tie structure of the Twitter follower network. We integrate our measurements of popularity, reputation, and social influence to evaluate what keeps users active, what makes them more popular, and what determines their influence. We find that there is a range of values in which the risk of a user becoming inactive grows with popularity and reputation. Popularity in Twitter resembles a proportional growth process that is faster in its strongly connected component, and that can be accelerated by reputation when users are already popular. We find that social influence on Twitter is mainly related to popularity rather than reputation, but that this growth of influence with popularity is sublinear. The explanatory and predictive power of our method shows that global network metrics are better predictors of inactivity and social influence, calling for analyses that go beyond local metrics like the number of followers.
The Effect of Pair Writing Technique on Iraqi EFL University Students' Writing Performance and Anxiety
Authors: Journal Arab World English , Hamid Salam , Al-bakri Shaymaa Abdulbaqi
Published: July 2018

The current study aims at finding out the effect of pair writing technique on Iraqi English as a foreign language university students' writing performance and anxiety. The sample of the study includes 78 male and female students in the Department of English / College of Education Ibn Rushd for Human Sciences of the University of Baghdad, Iraq during the academic year 2016/2017. The sample is divided into a control group with 38 students and experimental group with 40 ones. After checking the equalization of the two groups in certain related variables, the researchers conduct the experiment in which the students in the experimental group are taught writing and practice it in pairs, while those in the control group are dealt with conventionally (individually). The data collection tools employed in this study; a writing posttest and second language writing anxiety inventory, are conducted on the sample at the end of the experiment. The results achieved are statistically manipulated and discussed according to which a number of conclusions are drawn, and a set of recommendations are put forward.
Standardizing Biases: Selection Devices and the Quantification of Race
Authors: Hirschman Daniel , Bosk Emily Adlin
Published: July 2018

Racial inequality persists despite major advances in formal, legal equality. Scholars and policymakers argue that individual biases (both explicit and implicit) combine with subjective organizational decision-making practices to perpetuate racial inequality. The standardization of decision-making offers a potential solution, promising to eliminate the subjectivity that biases consequential decisions. We ask, under what conditions may standardization reduce racial inequality? Drawing on research in science studies and law and society, we argue that standardization must be understood as a heterogeneous practice capable of producing very different outcomes depending on the details of the standard and the organizational infrastructure surrounding its use. We compare “selection devices” – simple quantified tools for making allocation decisions – in undergraduate admissions and child welfare to highlight the complex relationships between race and standardization. Child welfare agencies adopted a colorblind actuarial device that attempted to predict which children were most at risk, and then make decisions based on those predictions. In contrast, the University of Michigan's points system explicitly considered and valued race, with the goal of increasing minority student enrollments in the context of promoting student body diversity. Comparing these cases demonstrates how actuarial standardization practices, including those adopted with the intention of reducing racial inequality, tend to reinforce an unequal status quo by ideologically reconfiguring mutable social structures into immutable individual risk factors. In contrast, non-actuarial practices that explicitly promote racial equality are vulnerable to political challenges, as they violate norms of colorblindness and cannot be defended in terms of their predictive validity.
Using "Teacher Moments" as an Online Practice Space for Parent-Teacher Conference Simulation in Preservice Teacher Education
Authors: Owho-Ovuakporie Kesiena
Published: July 2018

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and improve the suitability of Teacher Moments as an online practice space for parent-teacher conference simulation in preservice teacher education. We evaluate Teacher Moments by means of a playtest conducted with students of a preservice education class for undergraduates in the Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP) at MIT. We set out to answer 3 research questions. 1) How do users perceive the authenticity of parent-teacher conference simulations in Teacher Moments? 2) How do students’ reflections relate to the learning objectives after completing a parent-teacher conference simulation in Teacher Moments? 3) How do new users perceive the ease of use of Teacher Moments interface? Most of the preservice teachers in our study felt the simulation experience was authentic and the user interface was easy to use. The main themes we identified in the students’ reflections and class debrief were aligned with the simulation learning objectives.
Rhythmical coordination of performers and audience in partner dance: delineating improvised and choreographed interaction
Authors: Albert Saul
Published: July 2018

This paper explores rhythm in social interaction by analysing how partnerdancers and audience members move together during a performance. Theanalysis draws an empirical distinction between choreographed andimprovised movements by tracking the ways participants deal with variationsin the projectability and contingencies of upcoming movements. A detailedspecification of temporal patterns and relationships between rhythms showshow different rhythms are used as interactional resources. Systematicdisruptions to their rhythmical clapping shows how audience members workwith dancers to sustain the accountability and relevance of mutualcoordination. This reveals how dancers initiate, sustain and completedistinct phases of spontaneous movement as embodied social action.
Deflationary metaphysics and ordinary language
Authors: Button Tim
Published: July 2018

Amie Thomasson and Eli Hirsch have both attempted to deflate metaphysics, by combining Carnapian ideas with an appeal to ordinary language. My main aim in this paper is to critique such deflationary appeals to ordinary language. Focussing on Thomasson, I draw two very general conclusions. First: ordinary language is a wildly complicated phenomenon. Its implicit ontological commitments can only be tackled by invoking a Context Principle; but this will mean that ordinary language ontology is not a trivial enterprise. Second: a wide variety of existence questions cannot be deflated using ordinary language, trivially or otherwise, for ordinary language often points in different directions simultaneously.Published in Synthese.