The Tide\u27s Coming In: A New Case for Beachfront Property Rights in South Carolina

Part I of this Note explores the scientific data as it relates to the impending consequences of climate change on South Carolina’s coast and will introduce the disastrous scenarios that are predicted to arise as a result of rising sea levels and the accelerating strength and severity of extreme weather events. Part II compares the effectiveness of various coastal resiliency tools and highlights the regulatory framework that prohibits their use by beachfront property owners. Part III explores the topic of regulatory takings and their indirect prophylactic nature of protecting citizens from regulatory overreach and offers a case for a South Carolina court to find that the state’s regulations create an unconstitutional taking of private property without just compensation. Lastly, Part IV recommends a policy change designed to mitigate the consequences of the CTWA [Coastal Tidelands and Wetlands Act] on South Carolinians in the absence of a judicial finding that the CTWA constitutes a regulatory taking. This abstract has been taken from the author\u27s introduction

On Minimizing the Risk of Bias in Randomized Controlled Trials in Economics

Estimation of empirical relationships is prone to bias. Economists have carefully studied sources of bias in structural and quasi-experimental approaches, but the randomized control trial (RCT) has only begun to receive such scrutiny. In this paper, we argue that several lessons from medicine, derived from analysis of thousands of RCTs establishing a clear link between certain practices and biased estimates, can be used to reduce the risk of bias in economics RCTs. We identify the subset of these lessons applicable to economics and use them to assess risk of bias in estimates from economics RCTs published between 2001 and 2011. In comparison to medical studies, we find most economics studies do not report important details on study design necessary to assess risk of bias. Many report practices that suggest risk of bias, though this does not necessarily mean bias resulted. We conclude with suggestions on how to remedy these issues

Risk and evidence of bias in randomized controlled trials in economics

The randomized controlled trial (RCT) has been a heavily utilized research tool in medicine for over 60 years. Since the early 2000?s, large-scale RCTs have been used in increasingly large numbers in the social sciences to evaluate questions of both policy and theory. The early economics literature on RCTs invokes the medical literature, but seems to ignore a large body of this literature which studies the past mistakes of medical trialists and links poor trial design, conduct and reporting to exaggerated estimates of treatment effects. Using a few consensus documents on these issues from the medical literature, we design a tool to evaluate adequacy of reporting and risk of bias in RCT reports. We then use this tool to evaluate 54 reports of RCTs published in a set of 52 major economics journals between 2001 and 2011 alongside a sample of reports of 54 RCTs published in medical journals over the same time period. We find that economics RCTs fall far short of the recommendations for reporting and conduct put forth in the medical literature, while medical trials stick fairly close to them, suggesting risk of exaggerated treatment effects in the economics literature

Influential Article Review - Does Organizational Pride Improve Employee Performance?

This paper examines organizational behavior. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: This study derives a conceptual framework for examining parallel and differential influences of organizational pride in employees’ efforts versus abilities on proactivity. Data from a field survey (N = 1218) confirm our theoretical model. Organizational pride in employees’ efforts and organizational pride in employees’ abilities both had positive indirect effects on proactive behaviors via affective organizational commitment. Yet, whereas organizational pride in employees’ efforts additionally had a direct positive effect on individual and team member proactivity, organizational pride in employees’ abilities showed a direct negative effect on proactive behaviors for the self, the team, and the organization including a behavioral measurement of employees’ provision of ideas for improvement. These findings contribute to the nascent literature on organizational pride by indicating towards employees as source of organizational pride, highlighting potential negative effects of organizational pride, and introducing the differentiation between employees’ efforts and abilities. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Faculty Recital: Tyrone Jackson Trio featuring Alex Lattimore, vocals

KSU School of Music presents Tyrone Jackson Trio featuring Alex Lattimore, vocals.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1099/thumbnail.jp

Remedial after-school support classes offered in rural Gambia (The SCORE trial): study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Low education levels are endemic in much of the developing world, particularly in rural areas where traditional government-provided public services often have difficulty reaching beneficiaries. Providing trained para-teachers to teach regular after-school remedial education classes has been shown to improve literacy and numeracy in children of primary school age residing in such areas in India. This trial investigates whether such an intervention can also be effective in a West African setting with similarly low learning levels and difficult geographic access. METHODS/DESIGN: DESIGN: cluster-randomized controlled trial. Clusters: villages or groups of villages with 15-300 households and at least 15 eligible children in the Lower River and North Bank Regions of The Gambia. PARTICIPANTS: children born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2009 planning to enter the first grade, for the first time, in the 2015-2016 school year in eligible villages. We anticipate enrolling approximately 150 clusters of villages with approximately 6000 children as participants. INTERVENTION: a program providing remedial after-school lessons, focusing on literacy and numeracy, 5 to 6 days a week for 3 years to eligible children, based on the intervention evaluated in the Support To Rural India's Public Education System (STRIPES) trial (PLoS ONE 8(7):e65775). CONTROL: both the intervention and control groups will receive small bundles of useful materials during annual data collection as recompense for their time. If the education intervention is shown to be cost-effective at raising learning levels, it is expected that the control group villages will receive the intervention for several years after the trial results are available. OUTCOMES: the primary outcome of the trial is a composite mathematics and language test score. Secondary outcomes include school attendance, enrollment, performance on nationally administered exams, parents' spending on education, spillover learning to siblings and family members, and school-related time use of parents and children. Subgroup analyses of the primary outcome will also be carried out based on ethnic group, gender, distance from the main highway, parents' education level, and school type. The trial will run by independent research and implementation teams and supervised by a Trial Steering Committee. DISCUSSION: Along with the overall impact of the intervention, we will conduct a cost-effectiveness analysis. There are no major ethical issues for this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current controlled trials ISRCTN12500245 . 1 May 2015

Quantifying public preferences for different bowel preparation options prior to screening CT colonography: a discrete choice experiment

Objectives: CT colonography (CTC) may be an acceptable test for colorectal cancer screening but bowel preparation can be a barrier to uptake. This study tested the hypothesis that prospective screening invitees would prefer full-laxative preparation with higher sensitivity and specificity for polyps, despite greater burden, over less burdensome reduced-laxative or non-laxative alternatives with lower sensitivity and specificity. Design: Discrete choice experiment. Setting: Online, web-based survey. Participants: 2819 adults (45–54 years) from the UK responded to an online invitation to take part in a cancer screening study. Quota sampling ensured that the sample reflected key demographics of the target population and had no relevant bowel disease or medical qualifications. The analysis comprised 607 participants. Interventions: After receiving information about screening and CTC, participants completed 3–4 choice scenarios. Scenarios showed two hypothetical forms of CTC with different permutations of three attributes: preparation, sensitivity and specificity for polyps. Primary outcome measures: Participants considered the trade-offs in each scenario and stated their preferred test (or chose neither). Results: Preparation and sensitivity for polyps were both significant predictors of preferences (coefficients: −3.834 to −6.346 for preparation, 0.207–0.257 for sensitivity; p<0.0005). These attributes predicted preferences to a similar extent. Realistic specificity values were non-significant (−0.002 to 0.025; p=0.953). Contrary to our hypothesis, probabilities of selecting tests were similar for realistic forms of full-laxative, reduced-laxative and non-laxative preparations (0.362–0.421). However, they were substantially higher for hypothetical improved forms of reduced-laxative or non-laxative preparations with better sensitivity for polyps (0.584–0.837). Conclusions: Uptake of CTC following non-laxative or reduced-laxative preparations is unlikely to be greater than following full-laxative preparation as perceived gains from reduced burden may be diminished by reduced sensitivity. However, both attributes are important so a more sensitive form of reduced-laxative or non-laxative preparation might improve uptake substantially.JRC.I.2-Public Health Policy Suppor

The STRIPES Trial - Support to Rural India's Public Education System

Background Performance of primary school students in India lags far below government expectations, and major disparity exists between rural and urban areas. The Naandi Foundation has designed and implemented a programme using community members to deliver after-school academic support for children in over 1,100 schools in five Indian states. Assessments to date suggest that it might have a substantial effect. This trial aims to evaluate the impact of this programme in villages of rural Andhra Pradesh and will compare test scores for children in three arms: a control and two intervention arms. In both intervention arms additional after-school instruction and learning materials will be offered to all eligible children and in one arm girls will also receive an additional 'kit' with a uniform and clothes. Methods/Design The trial is a cluster-randomised controlled trial conducted in conjunction with the CHAMPION trial. In the CHAMPION trial 464 villages were randomised so that half receive health interventions aiming to reduce neonatal mortality. STRIPES will be introduced in those CHAMPION villages which have a public primary school attended by at least 15 students at the time of a baseline test in 2008. 214 villages of the 464 were found to fulfil above criteria, 107 belonging to the control and 107 to the intervention arm of the CHAMPION trial. These latter 107 villages will serve as control villages in the STRIPES trial. A further randomisation will be carried out within the 107 STRIPES intervention villages allocating half to receive an additional kit for girls on the top of the instruction and learning materials. The primary outcome of the trial is a composite maths and language test score. Discussion The study is designed to measure (i) whether the educational intervention affects the exam score of children compared to the control arm, (ii) if the exam scores of girls who receive the additional kit are different from those of girls living in the other STRIPES intervention arm. One of the goals of the STRIPES trial is to provide benefit to the controls of the CHAMPION trial. We will also conduct a cost-benefit analysis in which we calculate the programme cost for 0.1 standard deviation improvement for both intervention arms

Land politics under Kenya's new constitution: counties, devolution, and the National Land Commission

Kenya's new constitution, inaugurated in August 2010, altered the institutional structure of the state in complex ways. The general motivation behind reform was to enhance the political representation of ordinary citizens in general and that of marginalized ethno-regional groups in particular, and to devolve control over resources to the county level. In the land domain, reform objectives were as explicit and hard-hitting as they were anywhere else. Reform of land law and land administration explicitly aimed at putting an end to the bad old days of overcentralization of power in the hands of an executive branch considered by many to be corrupt, manipulative, and self-serving. Kenya's 2010 Constitution and the 2012 Land Acts produced three types of institutional restructuring that were designed to touch directly on land rights and land administration: devolution to 47 new county governments would be more accountable and responsive to local interests, and directly responsible for administration of community (ex-Trust) land; separation of powers at the pinnacle of the national political system to extinguish the president's arbitrary authority to allocate land while placing oversight and regulatory authority in the hands of a non-partisan, transparent, and law-governed National Land Commission (NLC); and deconcentration of the NLC to give this nonpartisan, independent agency a strong watchdog, advocacy, and decision-making role at the local (ie., county) level. This research asks how these significant reforms are changing land control and governance in rural Kenya. The question is of acute importance for the economic and political future of both Kenya and East Africa as a region. In 2005, approximately 70% of all Kenyans lived in the rural areas, and 60% of all employment is in agriculture (WB 2009: 2, 6 [2005 data]). Today, an estimated 65% live in the rural areas, and agriculture accounts for 30% of GDP. Land pressure is acute for smallholders and pastoralists, due to a vector of forces that includes a long history land grabbing on the part of the rich and powerful, starting with colonial expropriations in the early 20th century and continuing under successive postcolonial regimes, demographic pressure on the land, rising land values, forest destruction and conservation, wildlife conservation efforts, and the slow growth of non-farm rural livelihoods and jobs. Since the 1980s, the process of land accumulation on the part of the ruling elite has been matched by progressive immiseration of the ordinary farmers, pastoralists, the rural landless, and the urban poor. There is much in Kenya's new constitution and the Land Acts that aimed to have a direct impact on the land interests of ordinary citizens. Constitutional reforms gave devolved county governments and the NLC new powers over untitled land (over 60% of all land in Kenya), land held under title by family farmers, public land in rural areas, and pastoralists' land, as well as powers aimed to curb rural "land grabbing" and even recover land grabbed in the past. The Constitution and the Land Acts thus set the stage for a contentious politics of institution-building and reform that would be shaped by conflicts of interest and powerstruggles. Struggles unleashed in the implementation of these progressive reforms could answer questions -- and raise new ones -- about the politics of devolution, and land politics, in Kenya. The study adopts a subnational perspective, leveraging in-county variation in an attempt to understand how struggles around the supposedly non-partisan powers of the NLC and the CLMBs would be shaped by the partisan, center-periphery, and ethnic factors that previous scholars have identified as salient in understanding the politics of devolution in Kenya. Focusing on eight counties that capture much of the partisan, ethno-regional, and economic diversity of Kenya's new counties, we sought to probe the explanatory power of existing arguments (theories) of the politics of devolution. The passing of key implementing legislation was stalled, the NLC and the executive branch were locked in bitter turf-wars, the NLC was under court challenge, and powerful groups had introduced new legislation to undo key provisions of the new land dispensation. The county-level case studies show how the old and new land powers of government were being used in a context of open conflict over both institutional structure and process. Part I reviews existing scholarly work on devolution in Kenya to extract four distinct (but notmutually exclusive) hypotheses about how devolution could transform the nexus between land and politics. Part II shows that the NLC 's powers have been reduced by bureaucratic obstructionism and executive branch claw-back. In Part III, the county cases show that the history of land use/politics/tenure in each county goes far in determining the salience of land issues in defining political alliances/cleavages between the county government, the national government, and the NLC. The case studies show that the use of the NLC's powers at the county level have been largely subordinated to larger political logics. Part IV returns to the four hypotheses outlined in the first part of the paper. The conclusion summarizes and draws implications for devolution

Land law reform in Kenya: devolution, veto players, and the limits of an institutional fix

Much of the promise of the good governance agenda in African countries since the 1990s rested on reforms aimed at 'getting the institutions right', sometimes by creating regulatory agencies that would be above the fray of partisan politics. Such 'institutional fix' strategies are often frustrated because the new institutions themselves are embedded in existing state structures and power relations. The article argues that implementing Kenya's land law reforms in the 2012-2016 period illustrates this dynamic. In Kenya, democratic structures and the 2010 constitutional devolution of power to county governments created a complex institutional playing field, the contours of which shaped the course of reform. Diverse actors in both administrative and representative institutions of the state, at both the national and county levels, were empowered as 'veto players' whose consent and cooperation was required to realize the reform mandate. An analysis of land administration reform in eight Kenyan counties shows how veto players were able to slow or curtail the implementation of the new land laws. Theories of African politics that focus on informal power networks and state incapacity may miss the extent to which formal state structures and the actors empowered within them can shape the course of reform, either by thwarting the reformist thrust of new laws or by trying to harness their reformist potential