Reputational Review I: Expertise, Bias and Delay

Expertise, bias and delay arguments are shifting the focus of judicial review from the legality of administrative decisions to the reputation of administrative decision- makers. These grounds measure the skill, objectivity and efficiency characteristics that define administrators\u27 reputations. They make it possible for courts to consider these reputations, even if only by way of unarticulated judicial notice, when deciding judicial review applications. After setting out the theory of expertise, bias and delay implicit in recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions, the author concludes that courts must use less impressionistic measures in judging these concepts, lawyers must present more concrete reputational evidence in arguing them, and administrators must become more sensitive to their impact on public opinion

New Estimation Approaches for the Hierarchical Linear Ballistic Accumulator Model

The Linear Ballistic Accumulator (Brown & Heathcote, 2008) model is used as a measurement tool to answer questions about applied psychology. The analyses based on this model depend upon the model selected and its estimated parameters. Modern approaches use hierarchical Bayesian models and Markov chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) methods to estimate the posterior distribution of the parameters. Although there are several approaches available for model selection, they are all based on the posterior samples produced via MCMC, which means that the model selection inference inherits the properties of the MCMC sampler. To improve on current approaches to LBA inference we propose two methods that are based on recent advances in particle MCMC methodology; they are qualitatively different from existing approaches as well as from each other. The first approach is particle Metropolis-within-Gibbs; the second approach is density tempered sequential Monte Carlo. Both new approaches provide very efficient sampling and can be applied to estimate the marginal likelihood, which provides Bayes factors for model selection. The first approach is usually faster. The second approach provides a direct estimate of the marginal likelihood, uses the first approach in its Markov move step and is very efficient to parallelize on high performance computers. The new methods are illustrated by applying them to simulated and real data, and through pseudo code. The code implementing the methods is freely available.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figures, 7 table

A non-main-sequence secondary in SY Cancri

Simultaneous spectroscopic and photometric observations of the Z Cam type dwarf nova SY Cancri were used to obtain absolute flux calibrations. A comparison of the photometric calibration with a wide slit spectrophotometric calibration showed that either method is equally satisfactory. A radial velocity study of the secondary star, made using the far red NaI doublet, yielded a mass ratio q = 0.68; this is very different from the value of 1.13 quoted in the literature. Using the new lower mass ratio, and constraining the mass of the white dwarf to be within reasonable limits, then leads to a mass for the secondary star that is substantially less than would be expected for its orbital period if it satisfied a main-sequence mass-radius relationship. We find a spectral type of M0 that is consistent with that expected for a main-sequence star of the low mass we have found. However, in order to fill its Roche lobe, the secondary must be significantly larger than a main sequence star of that mass and spectral type. The secondary is definitely not a normal main-sequence star.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Contributing Factors to Withdrawal Decisions of Military and Nonmilitary Nursing Students

Retaining nursing students in courses is key to increasing the number of new nurses. This study examined factors associated with nursing course or program withdrawal among students with and without prior military experience. The purpose of this study was to uncover differences between groups of students who withdrew compared to those who did not. A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire surveyed current or recent nursing students (n = 420) using the Educational Requirement Subscale and the Student Withdrawal Questionnaire from Jeffreys’ toolkit. Uncovering differences between groups of students who did and did not withdraw from nursing courses or programs shows opportunities for nurse educators to improve strategies for student retention. Students with and without prior military experience reported statistically similar confidence levels, withdrawal rates, and reasons for withdrawal. There was a positive relationship between higher confidence levels and rates of withdrawal. Factors with the strongest influence for withdrawal were academic difficulties (mean = 2.56), family responsibilities (mean = 2.59) and family crisis (mean = 2.62). First generation students reported the greatest level of course withdrawals. Participation in nursing clubs and faculty advisement and helpfulness were most helpful to participants who reported past withdrawal. Data from this study can guide nurse educators to create greater program support and opportunity for peer support for students experiencing factors associated with course withdrawal

Ohio\u27s Public Employee Bargaining Law: Can It Withstand Constitutional Challenge?

Public employees in Ohio are now statutorily entitled to bargain collectively with their government employers. This controversial right was obtained on July 6, 1983, when Ohio Governor Richard Celeste fulfilled a major campaign promise by signing into law Senate Bill 133. This bill, which took effect April 1, 1984, has been labeled one of the most pro-labor public employee bargaining statutes in the nation. As with any legislation that provides sweeping social and economic changes, challenges to the bill\u27s legitimacy can be expected. Experience in other states teaches that constitutional attacks on the statute will be mounted swiftly, attacks that undoubtedly will allege the bill contains an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority, does not comply with the requisites of procedural due process, and is a violation of the home rule provisions of the state constitution. This Article analyzes the ways these issues have been handled by out-of-state courts and suggests their proper resolution by the courts of Ohio. It begins by tracing the development of public employee bargaining and by detailing the checkered history such bargaining efforts have had in Ohio. It next provides an overview of Senate Bill 133, focusing on those provisions likely to come under constitutional attack. It then examines out-of-state authority for guidelines on how Ohio can and should deal with these constitutional questions. On an issue-by-issue basis, a framework for resolving these questions is supplied

A Comparison of Factors that Impact Retention of Nursing Students With and Without Military Experience: A Mixed Method Study

Military veteran students have unique characteristics and challenges that influence their academic success. The factors impacting retention of nursing students with prior military experience may differ from students with no military experience. This mixed methods study used an anonymous survey guided by Jeffreys\u27 Nursing Undergraduate Retention and Success Model to identify factors that support or restrict prelicensure nursing program retention of military veteran students compared to students with no history of military service. Statistically significant differences between groups were detected for three factors including financial status, membership in nursing organizations or clubs, and financial aid and/or scholarship. There was a clear distinction between traditional and nontraditional students. Three qualitative themes emerged: Responsibilities and support systems, well-being and coping, program support, and caring. Results of this study can be used by nursing faculty to develop strategies to support the academic success of prelicensure nursing students, and specifically to meet the unique needs of students with prior military experience

Using Microsimulation Models for Revenue Forecasting in Developing Countries

The use of microsimulation models for revenue forecasting in developing countries is addressed and contrasted to some of the alternative forecasting techniques. Given the problems of many of the alternative techniques, microsimulation models are often found to be the preferred revenue estimation method. The microsimulation revenue estimation is illustrated with data for the Jamaican personal income tax. Details for the example related to the data requirements, problems, and the necessary assumptions for obtaining revenue estimates are discussed and several alternate tax policy changes are simulated and presented

Causal interventions expose implicit situation models for commonsense language understanding

Accounts of human language processing have long appealed to implicit ``situation models'' that enrich comprehension with relevant but unstated world knowledge. Here, we apply causal intervention techniques to recent transformer models to analyze performance on the Winograd Schema Challenge (WSC), where a single context cue shifts interpretation of an ambiguous pronoun. We identify a relatively small circuit of attention heads that are responsible for propagating information from the context word that guides which of the candidate noun phrases the pronoun ultimately attends to. We then compare how this circuit behaves in a closely matched ``syntactic'' control where the situation model is not strictly necessary. These analyses suggest distinct pathways through which implicit situation models are constructed to guide pronoun resolution.Comment: Findings of AC

Patient needs in advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma: What are patients’ priorities and how well are we meeting them?

Treatment options and duration of therapy for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) have increased. Many patients now spend in excess of 2 years on active therapy. These patients’ needs, and the ability of health services to respond to them, are poorly understood. Ten patients living with mRCC for more than 2 years and treated with at least one targeted agent were selected at random from three hospitals in the United Kingdom (UK). One interviewer who was not involved in their care conducted in-depth interviews. Interview transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to identify issues of greatest importance to patients, and to understand how well patients felt their needs were being addressed. Perceived delay in initial diagnosis was a major theme. Being told the truth about treatment side effects upfront was important, but was often at odds with perceived delivery. ‘Dealing with side effects’, understanding dose and its effects and not letting ‘negative thoughts get in’ were highlighted as important, but were highly personal to patients and areas where patients struggled. Concordance was observed with delivery of ‘a clear next step’ for treatment, timely access to drugs and guidance on a drug ‘holiday’. Patient experience of mRCC and its treatment requires a tailored approach. This research suggests there are key opportunities for service improvement and improved communication throughout the pathway to better meet the needs of patients, including non-clinical support to build personal resilience