Constitutional Law - Commerce Clause - State Taxation of Interstate Commerce - Supremacy Clause

The United States Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Montana coal severance tax finding that it does not violate the Commerce Clause and that it is not inconsistent with federal legislation. Commonwealth Edison Company v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609 (1981)

The Accelerated Cost Recovery System and Depreciable Nonrecovery Property - Making the Proper Elections

The Accelerated Cost Recovery System, as enacted by the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and amended by the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, presents taxpayers with several options regarding depreciable property. By using the internal rate of return method of decision analysis, the author sets forth the best elections for a taxpayer with a given marginal tax rate and after tax cost of capital interest by considering the effect of the decision on depreciation deductions, investment credit, tax preference, and depreciation recapture of the taxpayer

Testing and comparing two self-care-related instruments among older Chinese adults

Objectives The study aimed to test and compare the reliability and validity, including sensitivity and specificity of the two self-care-related instruments, the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE), and the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale-Revised (ASAS-R), among older adults in the Chinese context. Methods A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. The sample consisted of 1152 older adults. Data were collected by a questionnaire including the Chinese version of SASE (SASE-CHI), the Chinese version of ASAS-R (ASAS-R-CHI) and the Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale (ESCA). Homogeneity and stability, content, construct and concurrent validity, and sensitivity and specificity were assessed. Results The Cronbach's alpha (α) of SASE-CHI was 0.89, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.15 to r = 0.81, and the test-retest correlation coefficient (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99±1.00; P<0.001). The Cronbach's α of ASAS-R-CHI was 0.78, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.20 to r = 0.65, and the test-retest ICC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92±0.96; P<0.001). The content validity index (CVI) of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI was 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. The findings of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) confirmed a good construct validity of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI. The Pearson's rank correlation coefficients, as a measure of concurrent validity, between total score of SASE-CHI and ESCA and ASAS-R-CHI and ESCA were assessed to 0.65 (P<0.001) and 0.62 (P<0.001), respectively. Regarding ESCA as the criterion, the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve for the cut-point of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91±0.94) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80±0.86), respectively. Conclusion There is no significant difference between the two instruments. Each has its own characteristics, but SASE-CHI is more suitable for older adults. The key point is that the users can choose the most appropriate scale according to the specific situation.publishedVersionNivå

Factor analysis of the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms: data from the Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program

AimThe Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) was developed to identify individuals experiencing early signs of psychosis, a critical first step towards early intervention. Preliminary dimension reduction analyses suggested that psychosis‐risk symptoms may deviate from the traditional symptom structure of schizophrenia, but findings have been inconsistent. This study investigated the phenomenology of psychosis risk symptoms in a large sample from a multi‐site, national study using rigorous factor analysis procedure.MethodsParticipants were 334 help‐seeking youth (age: 17.0 ± 3.3) from the Early Detection and Intervention for the Prevention of Psychosis Program, consisting of 203 participants at clinically higher risk (sum of P scores ≥ 7), 87 with clinically lower risk (sum of P scores < 7) and 44 in very early first‐episode psychosis (<30 days of positive symptoms). Baseline SOPS data were subjected to principal axis factoring (PAF), estimating factors based on shared variance, with Oblimin rotation.ResultsPAF yielded four latent factors explaining 36.1% of total variance: positive symptoms; distress; negative symptoms; and deteriorated thought process. They showed reasonable internal consistency and good convergence validity, and were not orthogonal.ConclusionsThe empirical factors of the SOPS showed similarities and notable differences compared with the existing SOPS structure. Regrouping the symptoms based on the empirical symptom dimensions may improve the diagnostic validity of the SOPS. Relative prominence of the factors and symptom frequency support early identification strategies focusing on positive symptoms and distress. Future investigation of long‐term functional implications of these symptom factors may further inform intervention strategies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136036/1/eip12209.pd

A pilot study of the impact of double-dose robust vocabulary instruction on children’s vocabulary growth

Double-dose instruction, in which instructional lessons are supplemented to provide additional instructional time, is a mechanism used in some schools for boosting outcomes in certain academic areas. The purpose of study was to examine the effects of double-dose vocabulary instruction, relative to single-dose and business-as-usual control instruction, for pre-kindergarteners through third-graders in a quasi-experimental pilot study; the vocabulary instruction was embedded in a more broadly focused language-comprehension intervention. Pretest, posttest, and measures of targeted vocabulary were collected over a 21-week period of implementation to investigate children's vocabulary development during the intervention. In general, single- and double-dose instruction resulted in equivalent effects on children's learning of targeted vocabulary, although effect-size estimates were always larger for the Double-Doses condition relative to single-dose. Both were superior to the business-as-usual instruction, with effect-size estimates similar to that seen in the vocabulary-intervention literature. The results of this pilot study suggest that increased instructional time devoted to vocabulary development only may not provide enhanced outcomes for some students, and thus may not be a worthwhile investment of school resources compared to other language-based instruction

The development of the Teachers’ Attitudes toward Career Learning Index (TACLI).

Teachers play an important role supporting young people to form their career identities and to make successful transitions into further learning and work. In England there has been limited research that has looked specifically at the role of teachers and none which has tried to establish a measure of teacher attitude toward careers work. This article details the development of the Teachers Attitude toward Career Learning Index (TACLI) which was created to measure attitudes and engagement in career learning on teachers in England. The instrument went through a survey design process which included content validity and construct validity components. The process identified a five underlying factors in teachers attitude and engagement in careers work: (1) career learning and support practices, (2) school career strategy attitudes, (3) subject career learning attitudes, (4) career support attitudes, and (5) school career strategy practices. This process helped refined initial theoretical constructs regarding teachers’ roles in careers learning.Teach Firs