Formalism and Deference in Administration Law

The topic for discussion is formalism and deference in administrative law. As we know, the landmark case of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council has changed the face of modern administrative law. The panel will address the rightness and limitations of Chevron deference, especially in the context of agency decisions on the scope of the agencies’ jurisdictional mandates. Should the federal courts defer, or should they not defer in this context? We need guidance. Justices Scalia and Thomas recently differed from Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy and Alito on these issues. Who is right, and why? Does the answer depend in any measure on the growth of the administrative state, and are there larger issues of jurisprudential philosophy at stake? It may just come down to what you are really afraid of in this fundamental disagreement that the Justices are having. Chief Justice Roberts describes it as a “fundamental disagreement.” Are you afraid, as Justice Scalia discusses, of a lack of stability and chaos, of unaccountable federal judges running muckety-muck, deciding numerous issues in sundry ways, or as the Chief Justice recounts, are you afraid, in the words of Madison, of the “accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands” in a vast and evergrowing administrative state

Gender and Depression Moderate Response to Brief Motivational Intervention for Alcohol Misuse Among College Students

Objective: Brief motivational interventions (BMIs) effectively reduce problematic drinking in college students. However, not all students benefit, and little is known about the subgroups of students for whom BMIs are most effective. In the present study, we examined 2 factors that may influence BMI efficacy: gender and depression. Method: We reanalyzed data from a clinical trial in which heavy drinking students (N ϭ 330; 65% female) were randomized to a BMI (n ϭ 165) or an assessment only control (n ϭ 165). Depression was assessed at baseline; past-month typical drinks per week, heavy drinking frequency, and consequences were assessed at baseline and 1 month. Three-and 2-way interactions among intervention condition (BMI vs. control), gender (male vs. female), and depression (low vs. high) were tested. Results: We observed 3-way interaction effects on 2 outcomes: (a) typical drinks per week and (b) frequency of heavy drinking at 1 month. Relative to controls and adjusting for baseline drinking, low-depression women reduced their drinking more after a BMI whereas high-depression women did not show differential improvement. In contrast, high-depression men showed significant reductions in weekly drinks following the BMI whereas low-depression men did not show differential improvement. In addition, higher levels of depression were associated with higher levels of consequences at follow-up across conditions. Conclusions: BMIs are indicated for heavy drinking, depressed men, consistent with recommendations for implementing screening and brief intervention in mental health settings. However, BMIs may need to be refined to enhance their efficacy for depressed women

Deconstruction of Holistic Rubrics into Analytic Rubrics for Large-Scale Assessments of Students’ Reasoning of Complex Science Concepts

Constructed responses can be used to assess the complexity of student thinking and can be evaluated using rubrics. The two most typical rubric types used are holistic and analytic. Holistic rubrics may be difficult to use with expert-level reasoning that has additive or overlapping language. In an attempt to unpack complexity in holistic rubrics at a large scale, we have developed a systematic approach called deconstruction. We define deconstruction as the process of converting a holistic rubric into defining individual conceptual components that can be used for analytic rubric development and application. These individual components can then be recombined into the holistic score which keeps true to the holistic rubric purpose, while maximizing the benefits and minimizing the shortcomings of each rubric type. This paper outlines the deconstruction process and presents a case study that shows defined concept definitions for a hierarchical holistic rubric developed for an undergraduate physiology-content reasoning context. These methods can be used as one way for assessment developers to unpack complex student reasoning, which may ultimately improve reliability and validation of assessments that are targeted at uncovering large-scale complex scientific reasoning. Accessed 398 times on https://pareonline.net from September 05, 2019 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

A 2022 Assessment of Food Security and Health Outcomes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

We conducted a Northern New England survey to understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, food access, home food production, health behaviors, and health outcomes. The surveys were conducted in the spring of 2022 (April-May) with a total of 1,013 adults (598 in Maine and 415 in Vermont) responding to the survey. Key findings include:1. The prevalence of food insecurity remains similarly high to early points in the pandemic, likely driven by inflation and food prices, and long-term impacts from the pandemic. 2. The majority (62%) indicated the recent rise in food prices affected their food purchasing, this was significantly higher (90%) for food insecure respondents. 3. 1/3 of respondents utilized food assistance programs in the last 12 months. They reported difficulty traveling to food program offices to apply or recertify as a key challenge. 4. 2/3 of respondents engaged in some kind of home food production (HFP) and half of those did HFP activities for the first time or did existing HFP activities more in the last 12 months. 5. Nearly 1/3 reported weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food insecure respondents were significantly more likely to report weight gain. 6. Nearly 40% of food insecure respondents ate fewer fruits and vegetables and certain animal products in the last 12 months. These changes are significantly higher than for food secure respondents. 7. Half of the respondents faced a health care challenge in the last 12 months, with canceled appointments and trouble finding a timely appointment being the most commonly reported challenges. 8. More than 50% of respondents indicated anxiety and/or depression, with 17% of those with a diagnosis newly diagnosed in the last 12 months. 9. Compared to food secure respondents, food insecure respondents were significantly more likely to face a variety of health challenges in the last 12 months, including difficulty accessing healthcare, being diagnosed with anxiety and depression, stopping and skipping medications due to cost, and using habit-forming substances

Home Food Production and Food Security Since the COVID-19 Pandemic

We conducted a Northern New England survey to understand the initial and continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, food access, and home food production (HFP) (i.e. gardening, fishing, harvesting shellfish, foraging, hunting, trapping, raising animals for meat, dairy, or eggs, and food preservation such as canning, drying or freezing). The surveys were conducted in the Spring and Summer of 2021 (March – June). The survey was conducted in Maine (n = 562) and Vermont (n = 426). The cohort of respondents was representative of racial and ethnic identities of Vermont and Maine state populations. The data presented in this research brief were weighted to be representative of income in both states. Here, we summarize our findings related to changes in food security, food sourcing, and HFP before and since the COVID-19 pandemic. When data are referred to as “significant” it indicates a statistical significance at p\u3c 0.05

GLOBEM Dataset: Multi-Year Datasets for Longitudinal Human Behavior Modeling Generalization

Recent research has demonstrated the capability of behavior signals captured by smartphones and wearables for longitudinal behavior modeling. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive public dataset that serves as an open testbed for fair comparison among algorithms. Moreover, prior studies mainly evaluate algorithms using data from a single population within a short period, without measuring the cross-dataset generalizability of these algorithms. We present the first multi-year passive sensing datasets, containing over 700 user-years and 497 unique users' data collected from mobile and wearable sensors, together with a wide range of well-being metrics. Our datasets can support multiple cross-dataset evaluations of behavior modeling algorithms' generalizability across different users and years. As a starting point, we provide the benchmark results of 18 algorithms on the task of depression detection. Our results indicate that both prior depression detection algorithms and domain generalization techniques show potential but need further research to achieve adequate cross-dataset generalizability. We envision our multi-year datasets can support the ML community in developing generalizable longitudinal behavior modeling algorithms.Comment: Thirty-sixth Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems Datasets and Benchmarks Trac

Change in Food Security and Health Outcomes Since the COVID-19 Pandemic in Northern New England

We conducted a Northern New England survey in March-June of 2021 to understand the initial and continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, health behaviors, and health outcomes. A total of 988 adults (562 in Maine and 426 in Vermont) responded regarding food access and availability, health behaviors such as diet composition and exercise, and use of habit-forming substances (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, etc.) before and in the year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key findings include: 1. 39.1% of Maine and 43.2% of Vermont respondents indicated weight gain since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2. Individuals with food insecurity were significantly less likely to consume fruits and vegetables and engage in physical activity than those who report being food secure. 3. Nearly half of respondents indicated anxiety or depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4. Those with persistent food insecurity (i.e. food insecure before and during the COVID-19 pandemic) were 8.8 times more likely to experience higher levels of stress, 2.6 times more likely to experience anxiety and be diagnosed with diabetes type 2 and hypertension during the COVID-19 pandemic. 5. Individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ were more likely to be food insecure, 4 times more likely to report anxiety or depression, and also experienced higher levels of stress than individuals who did not identify as LGBTQ+ during the COVID-19 pandemic. 6. Individuals with food insecurity were up to 7 times more likely to skip or stop their medication for anxiety, depression, and/or hypertension, as compared to food secure respondents. 7. Individuals reporting the use of substances prior to the onset of the pandemic (e.g., tobacco, alcohol, and drugs) were more likely to have increased their use of additional habit-forming substances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Substance use was also associated with a higher prevalence of stress

Do brief motivational interventions reduce drinking game frequency in mandated students? An analysis of data from two randomized controlled trials.

PURPOSE: College students frequently engage in drinking games (DG) and experience a variety of consequences as a result. It is currently unknown whether brief motivational interventions (BMI) that provide feedback on DG participation can reduce this high risk behavior. This study examined outcome data from two randomized clinical trials to examine whether BMIs facilitate change in DG frequency and how these changes may occur. METHODS: Mandated college students (Trial 1, N = 198, 46% female; Trial 2, N = 412; 32% female) were randomized to BMI or comparison control conditions. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to compare the BMI and comparison groups to determine whether the BMI reduced DG participation over time. Percent change talk (PCT) during the discussion of DG during the session was examined as a predictor of change in DG frequency, and gender was examined as a moderator of treatment effects. RESULTS: Controlling for regular drinking frequency, participants who received a BMI did not significantly reduce their DG frequency relative to the comparison group in either sample, and the BMI was equally ineffective at reducing DG behavior for men and women. DG-related PCT during the BMI was associated with lower DG frequency at the second follow-up in both Trials. In Trial 1, PCT during the BMI was associated with less steep increases in DG frequency across the course of all follow-ups. Effects of PCT on DG behavior were not moderated by gender. CONCLUSIONS: Findings did not support hypothesized reductions in DG participation following a BMI. Future research should explore whether targeted DG-specific interventions could reduce DG participation and the role of in-session client language in facilitating such change

Functional Nanoscale Organization of Signaling Molecules Downstream of the T Cell Antigen Receptor

Receptor-regulated cellular signaling often is mediated by formation of transient, heterogeneous protein complexes of undefined structure. We used single and two-color photoactivated localization microscopy to study complexes downstream of the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) in single-molecule detail at the plasma membrane of intact T cells. The kinase ZAP-70 distributed completely with the TCRζ chain and both partially mixed with the adaptor LAT in activated cells, thus showing localized activation of LAT by TCR-coupled ZAP-70. In resting and activated cells, LAT primarily resided in nanoscale clusters as small as dimers whose formation depended on protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions. Surprisingly, the adaptor SLP-76 localized to the periphery of LAT clusters. This nanoscale structure depended on polymerized actin and its disruption affected TCR-dependent cell function. These results extend our understanding of the mechanism of T cell activation and the formation and organization of TCR-mediated signaling complexes, findings also relevant to other receptor systems. © 2011 Elsevier Inc

American Society of Clinical Oncology Summit on Addressing Obesity Through Multidisciplinary Provider Collaboration: Key Findings and Recommendations for Action

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139117/1/oby21987.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139117/2/oby21987_am.pd