Honor in Failure

As part of the National Collegiate Honors Council’s (2022) collection of essays about the value of honors to its graduates (1967–2019), the author reflects on the personal and professional impacts of the honors experience. I checked the spreadsheet in front of me again, frantically hoping by some grace or magic that the fifth entry I reviewed would somehow erase my mistake. I couldn’t have possibly scrambled more than 1,000 application records, could I have? I poured through the files I had meticulously, even reverently saved over the last weeks. I searched, each click more desperate than its sister before it. Surely, one of these manilla-colored folders held redemption in its electronic depths. Lined up like soldiers at parade, each offered hope, anticipation, sharp anguish as its contents failed to yield the file that would allow me to unmake my terrible transgression. At long last, the inexpungible fact of my blunder had to be faced. I steeled myself, gathering what courage I could muster, and knocked on our director’s door. My eyes traced an agonied, defeated course along the floor before I wrestled my gaze to his face. Still, it took a moment before my mouth decided to speak. “Sir, I may have accidentally messed up the database.” The kindly mouth smiled. Eyes twinkled and the beginnings of crow’s feet at their corners deepened ever so slightl

Climate change adaptation in the boardroom

Abstract Climate adaptation is recognised by many of the world’s largest businesses as a global risk and one that requires critical attention. The World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Risks Perception Survey, identified the ‘failure of climate change adaptation and rising greenhouse gas emissions as among those global risks considered to be the most likely to materialize within a decade’ (p.16). Yet despite action by many transnationals and international firms, it seems evident that most Australian companies appear to be struggling to move forward in responding to climate change impacts, apparently paralysed by short-term profit-first thinking, uncertain political risks and a corporate culture unused to volatility and disruption. Research approach This project set out to communicate adaptation to climate change to the “big end of town” and to gather soft data, acquire information and present issues back to the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), the funder of this research. Our approach to the research challenge differed from a traditional technical, analytical or academic method. We used action-learning principles to engage a community in which we, as advisors to corporate Australia and as co-researchers, have social capital and standing. Through trusted information sharing networks, private closed-door meetings and one on one conversation with executives and senior management from over 100 companies we shared ideas, gathered, researched and refined information and tested our findings. Findings Our findings from the boardroom engagement include the following:   The Australian Government expects the private sector to adapt, yet little or no incentives exist to promote this behaviour. Autonomous adaptation as practiced may only benefit the lead actor while creating disbenefit for others (including other corporations, society and the environment). Market practices on current paradigms cannot be expected to meet greater societal adaptation needs. Further adaptation research is required in some areas to help guide shape and monitor adaptation for the private sector. A multiplicity of policy reform may be necessary, but crafting and implementing it is likely to remain beyond the capability of the Australian Public Service (APS) or individual Governments. Highly sophisticated mining, gas and some Asian owned technology companies are leading the way with many opportunities missed by Australian companies. Adaptation for the corporate sector is a key strategic issue, unlike mitigation and corporate social responsibility (CSR), as it benefits the corporate primarily. Insurance dependency may only be a short-term risk transfer mechanism as, in its current paradigm, it can mask risk, create a false sense of security and may impede adaptation.   Conclusion We hope that this report is of benefit to Australian organisations, policy makers, regulators and to researchers in adaptation science. This project shows that, on a whole, the Australian private sector is giving little consideration about the impacts climate change. This project has identified that considerable research gaps exist, but has also provided direction for organisations and researchers. Individual corporations and private sector peak bodies urgently need to explore the risks and opportunities that climate change and associated responses bring. This is especially so for the ICT, aviation, energy, insurance and finance sectors. Please cite this report as: Johnston, GS, Burton, DL, Baker-Jones, M, 2013 Climate Change Adaptation in the Boardroom National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast. pp. 81

Cramming: The Effects of School Accountability on College-Bound Students

This paper is the first to explore the effects of school accountability systems on high-achieving students' long-term performance. Using exceptional data from a large highly-selective state university, we relate school accountability pressure in high school to a student's university-level grades and study habits. We exploit a change in the state's accountability system in 1999 that led to some schools becoming newlythreatened by accountability pressure and others becoming newly-unthreatened to identify the effects of accountability pressure. We find that an accountability system based on a low-level test of basic skills apparently led to generally reduced performance by high-achieving students, while an accountability system based on a more challenging criterion-referenced exam apparently led to improved performance in college on mathematics and other technical subjects. Both types of systems are associated with increased "cramming" by students in college. The results indicate that the nature of an accountability system can influence its effectiveness.

Youth Voter Turnout in the States during the 2000 Presidential and 2002 Midterm Elections

Youth voter turnout among citizens varies substantially across states, in both the 2002 Midterm election, and the 2000 Presidential election, and is consistently lower than voter turnout rates of adults 25 and older. Voter turnout rates have generally declined in midterm election years between 1978 and 2002 by 6 percentage points among young citizens between the ages of 18 and 24. In Presidential election years between 1972 and 2000, the national youth voter turnout rate has declined by 13 percentage points among young citizens

INVESTIGATING POWER OF ANALYSIS OF COVARIANCE METHODS

Analysis of covariance is a well-utilized statistical methodology. The procedure involves a series of statistical tests to first construct a most significant analysis model to characterize the effect of the covariate on response. Pairwise comparisons among treatments are then based on the finalized model. For traditional Normal error assumptions, each step of the process is based on exact statistical tests. However, the series of statistical tests defines a conditional probability scheme with possible multiplicity issues. The question then becomes if the analysis of covariance methodology considered in entirety is able to maintain a nominal level of significance with good power. Several procedures have been proposed in the literature suggesting different sequences of tests and understandings of analysis of covariance. This simulation study is being conducted to compare among a number of these analysis strategies. The initial goal was to investigate power of detecting treatment differences using the various analysis of covariance strategies. But, before power can be considered, the ability of the methodology to maintain a nominal level of significance must be investigated

Centre domination and party competition: Christian Democratic Party strategy in Italy, 1943-89.

The powerful hold of the Italian Christian Democratic Party on post-war government entitles it to recognition as, in many ways, the most successful party in Western Europe. At the same time, the party is unique in having mass support whilst being identified with the political 'centre'. This study focuses on the relationship between these two aspects of Italian politics. The thesis starts by examining the importance of spatial terminology in analyses of Italian politics and proposes that 'the centre' has two distinct, if not unrelated, meanings. Drawing on this idea the thesis seeks to show that the evolution of the Italian party system can be understood through an analysis of two strategies which have dominated the Christian Democratic Party: the centre political strategy and the centre party strategy, each rooted in a different understanding of the centre. In studying these strategies, party competition is emphasised as the means by which Italian multi-partism has been bound into a unified, if internally contradictory system; whilst a study of economic policy-making exemplifies the complex inter-relationship which has seen this 'contradictory unity' contribute to the nation-building process. The thesis contributes to the debate about the nature of Christian Democracy and party competition in Italy, and to the debate within comparative politics about the nature of party system structure

Application of quality by design concepts and automation to improve manufacturing process consistency of development and clinical-stage cell therapies

Designing manufacturing processes to reproducibly generate process-sensitive human cells of sufficient quantity and quality for clinical application is challenging and complex. Manufacture of cell therapies in manual flask based processes is controlled primarily through adherence to detailed SOPs which may contain subjective user interventions and relatively poorly defined operating controls. This situation can lead to clinical production processes with limited control of critical quality attributes, significant reliance on endpoint quality testing and consequent product wastage. Applying systematic and data driven approaches to process development, many of which form part of the Quality by Design (QbD) toolset, reduces manufacturing process risk. We have applied these approaches with a series of partners and cell types to demonstrate application of QbD tools to cell therapies. This includes statistical capability analysis to define process confidence limits for expansion processes, to identify sources of process variability, and to quantify process performance in relation to the process specification and necessary scale. This further enables risk assessment and gap analysis to identify and prioritise key manufacture process risks with common recurrent elements including input materials, cryo-strategy, and operational parameters pertaining to culture and medium supply strategy. Key variable screening via statistically designed experiments has enabled improvement in process consistency across multiple operations and an improved understanding of process tolerance to parameter levels. It also highlights where automation could be applied to enhance process reproducibility and increase process scale whilst retaining process format with comparability to prior manufacturing development. CompacT SelecT automated manufacturing processes have demonstrated consistently greater cell yields than manual processes with statistical analysis showing significantly improved confidence intervals between multiple production batches and facilitating identification of remaining sources of variation for further targeted process improvement. Example case studies include a partnership with ReNeuron, a UK-based stem cell therapy business currently undergoing a phase II clinical trial with its CTX cell therapy candidate to enhance motor recovery in disabled stroke patients, to develop scalable robust production processes for the CTX cell line