Probability, Truth and Logic: Reply to Cheeseman

This short paper will appear in the journal "Computational Intelligence" as one of a set of peer commentaries on a paper by Peter Cheeseman entitled "An inquiry into computer understanding", in which he advocates the use of Bayesian Inference to represent plausible inference. Cheeseman's paper is itself a reaction to Drew Mc-Dermott's paper "A critique of pure reason", which also appeared in "Computational Intelligence " with peer commentary. McDermott was criticising the use of logic for representing plausible inference. Historical note. For the benefit of people to whom the titles of the above papers sound vaguely familiar, but they cannot quite put their finger on the references: the McDermott title was first used by Kant; the Cheeseman title is adapted from a paper by Hume; and mine is adapted from a book by Ayer. I am broadly in sympathy with Cheeseman's attempt to promote the use of Bayesian probability in artificial intelligence; it may well have a role to play i

The Circle of Life: Narrative, performativity and ageing in Peter Cheeseman’s documentary dramas Fight for Shelton Bar! and Nice Girls

The relationship between ageing and theatre has received relatively little scholarly attention. This thesis focuses precisely on this intersection by investigating the relationship between theatre and the ageing process drawing on critical gerontology and literary theory. The research explores the documentary dramas of Peter Cheeseman by looking in detail at two of the documentaries, Fight for Shelton Bar! (1972) and Nice Girls (1993). The thesis uses a complex bricolage style of analysis to explore what narratives of the life-course reveal about ageing and intergenerational relations in Nice Girls and Fight for Shelton Bar!; as well as discovering what impacts being involved with the Vic/New Vic documentaries have on individuals’ lives and their engagement with their community. The research uses different types of narrative: narratives taken from a study of the documentaries themselves; narratives as seen through the archive, which include alternative stories and discourses to those which shaped the finished documentaries; and contemporary narratives gathered from performers and original participants from both documentaries.The thesis situates Cheeseman’s documentaries in the context of twentieth-century theatre history. In addition, it innovates methodologically by presenting the contemporary narratives in the form of dramatic scripts, with analytical commentaries. The source analyses are taken from an in-depth exploration of the Victoria theatre archive. The thesis argues that this archival material is a complex affective record of the community’s past feelings about ageing as part of the life-course.It is through this layering of analysis that the thesis draws together thematic threads relating to community, family, intergenerational relationships, representation, shifting forms of engagement and ageing, looked at from a life-course perspective. The thesis argues that the Vic/New Vic theatre is a space that licences affective engagement. Consequently, attitudes to ageing emerge through the documentaries even though that was not the pre-determined focus of Cheeseman’s work

Legal Ethics and \u3cem\u3eA Civil Action\u3c/em\u3e

This Article shows how A Civil Action can be used to supplement a course in Professional Responsibility. A Civil Action contains many events that can similarly be used to introduce students to ethical dilemmas they will confront when they enter the profession. These events can breathe life into otherwise dry discussions of acceptable ethical behavior as set out in ethical codes. In accord with the Lessons from Woburn Project\u27s goal to make A Civil Action and its associated materials into a powerful teaching tool, the book\u27s events vividly illustrate the ethical parameters within which a lawyer must operate, ethical parameters that exist regardless of how tired a lawyer may be or how antagonistic the opposing party may act

Legal Ethics and \u3cem\u3eA Civil Action\u3c/em\u3e

This Article shows how A Civil Action can be used to supplement a course in Professional Responsibility. A Civil Action contains many events that can similarly be used to introduce students to ethical dilemmas they will confront when they enter the profession. These events can breathe life into otherwise dry discussions of acceptable ethical behavior as set out in ethical codes. In accord with the Lessons from Woburn Project\u27s goal to make A Civil Action and its associated materials into a powerful teaching tool, the book\u27s events vividly illustrate the ethical parameters within which a lawyer must operate, ethical parameters that exist regardless of how tired a lawyer may be or how antagonistic the opposing party may act

A phenomenological study of certified public accountants\u27 perception of ethics in the accounting profession

Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) have been referred as the watchdogs and guardians of integrity of financial markets. The accounting profession has enjoyed a stellar reputation of professional ethics and integrity. However, the reputation of the entire accounting profession, which was once firmly grounded in ethical principles, has been somewhat sullied due to series of accounting scandals over the past two decades. This phenomenological qualitative research study was designed to explore and understand the practicing CPAs’ perception of ethics relative to the accounting profession, as well as issues with respect to the essence of their perception on ethical reasoning, mandatory continuing professional education (CPE) in ethics, and the impact of recent accounting scandals on the accounting profession. The resulting analysis of data revealed that participants viewed the ethical reputation of the profession as very strong and positive, as 70% of participants believed that 90% of CPAs consistently acted in an ethical manner. Follow-up study inquiries also revealed participants’ overwhelming preference for the use of prior real case scenarios to which they could relate, based on their own knowledge and experience in learning accounting ethics. This finding was consistent with adult learner theories advanced by Malcolm Knowles. Furthermore, the study revealed a trusted CPA colleague as participants’ number one source for ethical guidance when faced with an ethical dilemma. This interdependency magnifies the utmost importance of providing effective CPE courses in ethics for the entire profession

Vermin, victims and disease: British debates over bovine tuberculosis and badgers

This is the final version. Available on open access from Palgrave Macmillan via the DOI in this recordThis open access book provides the first critical history of the controversy over whether to cull wild badgers to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in British cattle. This question has plagued several professional generations of politicians, policymakers, experts and campaigners since the early 1970s. Questions of what is known, who knows, who cares, who to trust and what to do about this complex problem have been the source of scientific, policy, and increasingly vociferous public debate ever since. This book integrates contemporary history, science and technology studies, human-animal relations, and policy research to conduct a cross-cutting analysis of the situation. It explores the worldviews of those involved with animal health, disease ecology and badger protection between the 1970s and 1990s, before reintegrating them to investigate the recent public polarisation of the controversy. Finally it asks how we might move beyond the current impasse to explore more open and sustainable approaches to the situation.Wellcome Trus

A primary numeracy : a mapping review and analysis of Australian research in numeracy learning at the primary school level : report

The outcome from this project produces a database of over 185 projects and 726 publications relating to numeracy research to systematically &lsquo;mapped&rsquo; Australian research on primary school numeracy over the last decade. The database incorporates research summaries and findings that are easily accessible to teachers and teacher educators, and act as a valuable tool for determining further research directions. The project report examines the available research and organises the discussion of the research findings under a set of themes and sub-themes. Some summarised examples from the report reveals that: * Effective teachers of numeracy: - have high expectations of their students; - focus on children&rsquo;s mathematical learning, rather than on providing pleasant classroom experiences; - provide a challenging curriculum; - use higher-order questioning; - make connections both within mathematics and between mathematics in different contexts; and - use highly interactive teaching involvement with students in class discussion. * Effective professional development programmes: - provide teachers with the time and appropriate resources to enable them to reflect on their teaching; - provide continuing support and encouragement while teachers explore possibilities and trial new strategies in their classrooms; - involve teachers in school-based and wider networks; - are of sufficient duration to allow significant changes to habitual beliefs and practices; and - create opportunities for the exploration of theory-practice relationships.<br /

The professional learning leadership of school mathematics leaders after participation in a large-scale primary school mathematics improvement project : An activity theory perspective

This thesis examines how mathematics leaders, working as middle leaders in three separate primary schools in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to project sustainability in the years that followed participation in a large-scale school mathematics professional development project. Informed by a cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) perspective, the thesis presents how those mathematics leaders contributed to the sustainability of project-initiated reforms through their post-project professional learning leadership activity. Project sustainability is a complex issue in school settings, often proving to be challenging activity for practitioners and researchers alike. One important element of enduring school improvement requires a focus on sustaining change, yet that proves to be the significant challenge. A reason for that challenge is the lack of knowledge, derived from research studies, that examines the sustainability of projects beyond the time of participation in them. Another added layer of complexity is that middle leadership, like that enacted by the mathematics leaders, remains an under-researched area of educational leadership. Even fewer studies have drawn attention to how mathematics leaders contribute to project sustainability. This thesis asked how the mathematics leaders contributed to project sustainability as middle leaders of professional learning in their school sites. Acknowledging that middle leadership has been theorised as a form of practice, CHAT was used as the approach to understand the collective facets of the mathematics leaders’ activity. A focus was taken on how their object-oriented activity developed and transformed over time. CHAT concepts associated with the activity system were used as analytical tools to understand how the mathematics leaders’ professional learning leadership activity progressed in response to contradictions that surfaced within their activity. Drawing on the work of CHAT researchers, a research process was specifically designed as a series of actions intended to realise the objective of the thesis. Those actions included conducting CHAT workshops with the mathematics leaders, clarifying the historicity of their activity system, producing and reporting findings of the historical activity system as a member-checking strategy, conducting a detailed inquiry into post-project activity system, and producing and reporting findings of the post-project activity system for member-checking. As a means of generating data to respond to the research question, the data methods of interviews, observations, and document retrieval were employed. Data were analysed using deductive and inductive analysis. Concepts from the CHAT and literature were used to create coding schemes to support those data analysis approaches. The findings of this thesis are presented through three discussion chapters that offer a temporal sequence of activity experienced by the mathematics leaders from the time of their leadership activity during project participation to the years following participation. The first of the findings chapters discusses the historical trajectory of the mathematics leaders’ professional learning leadership, beginning with the descriptions of the historically accumulated contradiction that gave rise to the decision for the mathematics leaders' schools to participate in the project. There is an explanatory focus on the motive objects of activity pursued by the mathematics leaders during project participation. The claim is presented that the mathematics leaders shifted the direction of their leadership from managerial motive objects to ones that focused more on leadership as project participation progressed. The next chapter discusses findings that reveal that at completion of project participation, the mathematics leaders were relieved that their principals established commitment rules intended to mediate project sustainability. The historical contradiction, which had faded in prominence during the project, resurfaced and manifested as a critical conflict realised as several problems of practice. That gave rise to several post-project problems of practice that realised struggle for the mathematics leaders. That struggle was compounded by feelings of responsibility for project sustainability in their schools. The claim is made that mathematics leaders responded to their struggle and feelings of responsibility through care and creativity which initiated enactment of their form of resourceful practice. The final discussion chapter presents further evidence that the mathematics leaders enacted their resourceful practice that became their contribution to project sustainability. Through their attempts to resolve the post-project practice problems, the mathematics leaders reconfigured the motive objects of their activity, seeing them privilege relational trust building for and about mathematics teaching. Through that motive object reconfiguration, the mathematics leaders’ activity was multi-motivational activity and realised through new leadership actions. Evidence of a newly surfaced contradiction is reported, and its existence is explained. The claim is presented that that contradiction surfaced due to the relational motive object that the mathematics leaders privileged, revealing the enabling yet constraining potential of the relational dimension of their professional learning leadership activity. This thesis contributes to knowledge about project sustainability, claiming that as middle leaders in their schools enacting their resourceful practice, the mathematics leaders acted as agents of project sustainability. The findings add further information of mathematics leaders as middle leaders who play a crucial role within the school leadership factor of project sustainability. The implication of the thesis is that professional development designers and facilitators must attend to the factors of project sustainability and pay attention to the vitality of relationality that penetrates the motive objects of activity enacted by mathematics leaders through their professional learning leadership

Understanding the History of Institutionalization: Making connections to De-institutionalization and the Olmstead Act for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in the State of Illinois

What is the historical connection between deinstitutionalization and the Olmstead decision? The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze policy within a historical perspective the connections between institutional care, deinstitutionalization, the Olmstead decision, and the effect on persons with intellectual disabilities lived experience, in the state of Illinois. The data collected include, the transcripts of interviews with four participants, artifacts from policy documents and historical papers accessed from the Disability Museum online journals. The creation of a table for use in coding themes as associated with 5 (out of 18) core concepts for disability policy. The Olmstead decision and the Ligas Decree provide a framework to identify barriers and gaps in state policy. The findings indicate establishing a formal Olmstead Plan, which could prevent further litigations. Limitations to this study consist of small sample size. Recommendations include, to reconvene a committee of stakeholders and self-advocates, to investigate using the Blueprint as a guide in development of an established Olmstead Plan, in effort to prevent future litigations and provide sustainability, in Illinois

The health and social care information needs and behaviour of people with a visual impairment.

Background and purpose: There are currently almost two million people with a visual impairment in the United Kingdom, many of whom also experience other health conditions and/or disabilities. People with visual impairments are, therefore, often regular users of health and social care services. Information has an important role in helping support and improve people's health and social care. The purpose of this thesis was, therefore, to address an identified knowledge gap and undertake an in-depth study of the health and social care information needs and behaviour of people with a visual impairment. Design/ methodology/ approach: The research consisted of four interconnected studies: an interview study with 17 people with an age-related visual impairment and 14 people with a visual impairment since birth or early childhood; an audio diary study with seven older visually impaired people; a survey of managers of local societies for the blind and partially sighted; and an evaluation of the active involvement of visually impaired people in the design of this research. Findings: As a result of this research we now have a detailed understanding of the health and social care information needs of two groups of visually impaired people, in particular the types of information they require; the information sources they use, such as local societies for the blind and partially sighted; what factors potentially affect their information behaviour; the possible role of newer information sources, such as NHS Direct and the Internet; as well as the extent to which two established information models (Wilson, 1999 and Moore, 2002) can explain their information behaviour. Originality/ value: This research, the first of its kind, substantially increases our knowledge of the health and social care information needs and behaviour of visually impaired people by employing novel approaches, such as the adoption of audio diaries as a research method, and involving visually impaired people directly in the design of the research