The Two Futures of Governing: Decentering and Recentering Processes in Governing. IHS Political Science Series Paper No. 114, January 2008

Reforms of the public sector have helped create a more efficient and effective public sector, but also have created a number of problems. Both, the New Public Management and “governance” reforms have contributed to the contemporary problems in governing. These problems have been political to a great extent, reflecting the tendency to emphasize administrative rather than democratic values. Governments have begun to react to the real and perceived problems within the public sector by developing a number of “meta-governance” instruments that can help steer public organizations but which involve less direct command and control. This paper addresses the contemporary governance tasks of restoring political direction and policy coherence while at the same supporting the autonomy of public organizations, and the involvement of policy networks, in governing

Staff Perspectives of Working with Families of Children and Young People in Paediatric Residential Neurorehabilitation

Background In the UK, paediatric neurorehabilitation services are encouraged to develop a collaborative working relationship with families. This relationship supports effective assessments, rehabilitation and the development of shared goals, interventions and evaluations. It also supports the transition of life after rehabilitation. Children and young people with the most severe acquired brain injuries participate in intensive residential neurorehabilitation. Given the momentum to empower and integrate families, and the challenging context in which relationships between healthcare professionals and families takes place, data is sparse and disparate around this relational experience. This study looked to understand what it is like for healthcare professionals to work with families of children and young people in a residential paediatric neurorehabilitation service and what enables or hinders collaboration. Method 15 participants who work at a residential paediatric neurorehabilitation service in the UK were interviewed. Participants were made up of members of the nursing team, psychosocial team, therapies team and assistive technologies team. Results Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Five key themes and 13 subthemes were identified, including intentions and hopes, assessment and understanding, what healthcare professionals do and what factors contribute to when things get stuck. Conclusion The study suggests that the working relationship with families is important in order to create meaningful interventions and prepare families to life beyond the service. Healthcare professionals attune to each family in order to join and create as good as working relationships as possible given very challenging contexts of grief, upheaval and stress. There are however a number of barriers to developing collaborative relationships. This study puts forward a psychological stance to understand the experiences, barriers and enablers to collaborative relationships

On differentiating the probability of error in multipopular feature selection

A method of linear feature selection for n dimensional observation vectors which belong to one of m populations is presented. Each population has a known apriori probability and is described by a known multivariate normal density function. Specifically we consider the problem of finding a k x n matrix B of rank k (k n) for which the transformed probability of misclassification is minimized. Providing that the transformed a posterior probabilities are distinct theoretical results are obtained which, for the case k = l, give rise to a numerically tractable formula for the derivative of the probability of misclassification. It is shown that for the two population problem this condition is also necessary. The dependence of the minimum probability of error on the a priori probabilities is investigated. The minimum probability of error satisfies a uniform Lipschitz condition with respect to the a priori probabilities

Bayesian Cointegrated Vector Autoregression models incorporating Alpha-stable noise for inter-day price movements via Approximate Bayesian Computation

We consider a statistical model for pairs of traded assets, based on a Cointegrated Vector Auto Regression (CVAR) Model. We extend standard CVAR models to incorporate estimation of model parameters in the presence of price series level shifts which are not accurately modeled in the standard Gaussian error correction model (ECM) framework. This involves developing a novel matrix variate Bayesian CVAR mixture model comprised of Gaussian errors intra-day and Alpha-stable errors inter-day in the ECM framework. To achieve this we derive a novel conjugate posterior model for the Scaled Mixtures of Normals (SMiN CVAR) representation of Alpha-stable inter-day innovations. These results are generalized to asymmetric models for the innovation noise at inter-day boundaries allowing for skewed Alpha-stable models. Our proposed model and sampling methodology is general, incorporating the current literature on Gaussian models as a special subclass and also allowing for price series level shifts either at random estimated time points or known a priori time points. We focus analysis on regularly observed non-Gaussian level shifts that can have significant effect on estimation performance in statistical models failing to account for such level shifts, such as at the close and open of markets. We compare the estimation accuracy of our model and estimation approach to standard frequentist and Bayesian procedures for CVAR models when non-Gaussian price series level shifts are present in the individual series, such as inter-day boundaries. We fit a bi-variate Alpha-stable model to the inter-day jumps and model the effect of such jumps on estimation of matrix-variate CVAR model parameters using the likelihood based Johansen procedure and a Bayesian estimation. We illustrate our model and the corresponding estimation procedures we develop on both synthetic and actual data.Comment: 30 page

Germanium coated microbridge and method

A superconducting microbridge is provided for use in superconducting quantum interference devices wherein a pair of spaced layers of superconductive material are connected by a weak link bridge to establish an electrical junction. The superconductive layers and bridge are coated with a semiconductor material shunting the bridge at room temperatures to prevent the destruction of the device by minute electrical currents while the coating acts as a dielectric permitting normal electrical behavior of the microbridge at cryogenic temperatures

Pear-shaped lesion of the fossa of Rosenmüller

Retention cyst of the pharyngeal mucosal space is an accumulation of trapped mucous in the mucosa or adenoids of the pharynx. It is a benign lesion, often seen on routine imaging of the head and spine. It is typically a simple cyst originating from the pharyngeal mucosa, without invasion of the surrounding structures. It is important not to misinterpret a retention cyst as a malignant tumor. Patients are usually asymptomatic and do not need treatment