A Literature Review: Current Trends in Holistic Nursing

There is scarcity of documentation that seeks to define spirituality relating to holistic nursing; consequently, a literature review was formulated to define spirituality and guide nursing practice towards recognizing the importance of and implementation of spiritual care. By researching the current trends in peer-reviewed journals from the past three years and analyzing associated articles, this paper addresses the need for a comprehensive definition of spirituality. Key concepts such as belief, values, interconnectedness with self, others and God, energy, hope and transcendence will be analyzed, and the accumulated data will be complied into a framework that is easy for a nurse to understand and use. This thesis strives to validate the necessity of spiritual care through the mechanism of holistic nursing and equip nurses to assess and implement care for the ever-present spiritual needs of one’s patients

The Progressive Prosecutor: An Imperative for Criminal Justice Reform

In a law review article written seventeen years ago, Professor Abbe Smith asked the question, “Can You Be a Good Person and a Good Prosecutor?” Professor Smith ultimately answered the question in the negative. Whether or not one agreed with her conclusion at the time, today we know that the answer to the question is “Yes.” Anyone who believes that good people cannot be good prosecutors assumes and accepts a model of prosecution based on harsh, punitive policies and practices that incarcerate as many people as possible for as long as possible. Unfortunately, that unjust model of prosecution is the norm in far too many prosecutors’ offices. It is a model, however, that we cannot afford to accept. Fortunately, it is not the only model. There are good people currently serving as prosecutors who are implementing a new model of prosecution—one that seeks to reduce the use of incarceration, eliminate racial disparities, and provide second chances. If we ever hope to fix our broken criminal justice system, we must work to replicate that model throughout the country

Newbs Lose, Experts Win: Video Games in the Supreme Court

This Article focuses on the role of the lawyers using the framework described by Professor Richard J. Lazarus in his 2008 article, Advocacy Matters Before and Within the Supreme Court: Transforming the Court by Transforming the Bar. Lazarus argues the modern Supreme Court bar has come to be dominated by a small number of Supreme Court specialists. Because of their experience and superior knowledge of the Justices and Supreme Court practice, Supreme Court specialists are more likely to obtain outcomes desired by their clients, which are typically large corporations or industry trade associations. Consistent with Lazarus’s finding, this Article shows the video game industry’s representation by a Supreme Court specialist in Brown gave it advantages over California that likely affected the outcome of the case. Part II analyzes whether the counsel in Brown fit within Lazarus’s definition of a Supreme Court specialist. Part III provides background on the Brown case and the cases that came before it. Part IV compares the expert and non-expert representation in Brown by examining the parties’ briefs, the amicus briefs, and the oral argument. Finally, Part V explores whether the case might have come out differently if both sides had been represented by Supreme Court specialists. It concludes that with expert representation, California could have captured the five votes necessary to win, or at least obtained a narrower decision that would have allowed the legislature to try again to craft a law that could survive a constitutional challenge

Active Sensing as Bayes-Optimal Sequential Decision Making

Sensory inference under conditions of uncertainty is a major problem in both machine learning and computational neuroscience. An important but poorly understood aspect of sensory processing is the role of active sensing. Here, we present a Bayes-optimal inference and control framework for active sensing, C-DAC (Context-Dependent Active Controller). Unlike previously proposed algorithms that optimize abstract statistical objectives such as information maximization (Infomax) [Butko & Movellan, 2010] or one-step look-ahead accuracy [Najemnik & Geisler, 2005], our active sensing model directly minimizes a combination of behavioral costs, such as temporal delay, response error, and effort. We simulate these algorithms on a simple visual search task to illustrate scenarios in which context-sensitivity is particularly beneficial and optimization with respect to generic statistical objectives particularly inadequate. Motivated by the geometric properties of the C-DAC policy, we present both parametric and non-parametric approximations, which retain context-sensitivity while significantly reducing computational complexity. These approximations enable us to investigate the more complex problem involving peripheral vision, and we notice that the difference between C-DAC and statistical policies becomes even more evident in this scenario.Comment: Scheduled to appear in UAI 201

Picture this: researching child workers

Visual methods such as photography are under-used in the active process of sociological research. As rare as visual methods are, it is even rarer for the resultant images to be made by rather than of research participants. Primarily, the paper explores the challenges and contradictions of using photography within a multi-method approach. We consider processes for analysing visual data, different ways of utilising visual methods in sociological research, and the use of primary and secondary data, or, simple illustration versus active visual exploration of the social. The question of triangulation of visual data against text and testimony versus a stand-alone approach is explored in depth