University of Notre Dame

About: University of Notre Dame is a education organization based out in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 22238 authors who have published 55201 publications receiving 2032925 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Notre Dame du Lac & University of Notre Dame, South Bend.

Voice in the Classroom: How an Open Classroom Climate Fosters Political Engagement Among Adolescents

Abstract: Does civics instruction have an impact on the political engagement of adolescents? If so, how? Analysis of data from CIVED, a major study of civic education conducted in 1999, finds that an open classroom climate has a positive impact on adolescents’ civic knowledge and appreciation of political conflict, even upon controlling for numerous individual, classroom, school, and district characteristics. Furthermore, an open classroom environment fosters young people’s intention to be an informed voter. Results further show that exposure to an open classroom climate at school can partially compensate for the disadvantages of young people with low socioeconomic status.

"smart" base isolation systems

Abstract: A "smart" base isolation system (SBIS) is proposed and shown to effectively protect structures against extreme earthquakes without sacrificing performance during the more frequent, moderate seismic events. The proposed SBIS is composed of conventional low-damping elastomeric bearings and "smart" controllable (semiactive) dampers, such as magnetorheological fluid dampers. To demonstrate the advantages of this approach, the SBIS is compared to lead-rubber bearing isolation systems. The effectiveness of the isolation approaches are judged based on computed responses to several historical earthquakes scaled to various magnitudes. The limited performance of passive systems is revealed and the potential advantages of smart dampers are shown. Two- and 6-degree-of-freedom models of a base-isolated structure are used as a test bed in this study. Smart isolation is shown to achieve notable decreases in base drifts over comparable passive systems with no accompanying increase in base shears or in accelerations imparted to the superstructure. In contrast to passive lead-rubber bearing systems, the adaptable nature of the SBIS provides good protection to both the structure and its contents over a wide range of ground motions and magnitudes.

Racing to the bottom or climbing to the top?: Economic globalization and collective labor rights

Abstract: This article explores the impact of economic globalization on workers' rights in developing countries. The authors hypothesize that the impact of globalization on labor rights depends not only on the overall level of economic openness but also on the precise ways in which a country participates in global production networks. Using a new data set on collective labor rights, the authors test these expectations. Their analysis of the correlates of labor rights in 90 developing nations, from 1986 to 2002, highlights globalization's mixed impact on labor rights. As “climb to the top” accounts suggest, foreign direct investment inflows are positively and significantly related to the rights of workers. But at the same time, trade competition generates downward “race to the bottom” pressures on collective labor rights. The authors also find that domestic institutions and labor rights in neighboring countries are important correlates of workers' rights.

Diel horizontal migration of zooplankton: costs and benefits of inhabiting the littoral

Abstract: 1. In some shallow lakes, Daphnia and other important pelagic consumers of phytoplankton undergo diel horizontal migration (DHM) into macrophytes or other structures in the littoral zone. Some authors have suggested that DHM reduces predation by fishes on Daphnia and other cladocerans, resulting in a lower phytoplankton biomass in shallow lakes than would occur without DHM. The costs and benefits of DHM, and its potential implications in biomanipulation, are relatively unknown, however. 2. In this review, we compare studies on diel vertical migration (DVM) to assess factors potentially influencing DHM (e.g. predators, food, light, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH). We first provide examples of DHM and examine avoidance by Daphnia of both planktivorous (PL) fishes and predacious invertebrates. 3. We argue that DHM should be favoured when the abundance of macrophytes is high (which reduces planktivory) and the abundance of piscivores in the littoral is sufficient to reduce planktivores. Food in the littoral zone may favour DHM by daphnids, but the quality of these resources relative to pelagic phytoplankton is largely unknown. 4. We suggest that abiotic conditions, such as light, temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH, are less likely to influence DHM than DVM because weaker gradients of these conditions occur horizontally in shallow lakes relative to vertical gradients in deep lakes. 5. Because our understanding of DHM is rudimentary, we highlight potentially important research areas: studying a variety of systems, comparing temporal and spatial scales of DHM in relation to DVM, quantifying positive and negative influences of macrophytes, focusing on the role of invertebrate predation, testing the performance of cladocerans on littoral versus pelagic foods (quantity and quality), investigating the potential influence of temperature, and constructing comprehensive models that can predict the likelihood of DHM. Our ability to biomanipulate shallow lakes to create or maintain the desired clear water state will increase as we learn more about the factors initiating and influencing DHM.

Consumer Online Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues

Abstract: Consumer privacy is a public policy issue that has received substantial attention over the last thirty years. The phenomenal growth of the Internet has spawned several new concerns about protecting the privacy of consumers. The authors examine both historical and conceptual analyses of privacy and discuss domestic and international regulatory and self-regulatory approaches to confronting privacy issues on the Internet. The authors also review ethical theories that apply to consumer privacy and offer specific suggestions for corporate ethical policy and public policy as well as a research agenda.