The Administrative Law of Regulatory Slop and Strategy

Judicial review of agency behavior is often criticized as either interfering too much with agencies’ domains or doing too little to ensure fidelity to statutory directives and the rule of law. But the Trump administration has produced an unprecedented volume of agency actions that blatantly flout settled administrative-law doctrine. This phenomenon, which we term “regulatory slop,” requires courts to reinforce the norms of administrative law by adhering to established doctrine and paying careful attention to remedial options. In this Article, we document numerous examples of regulatory slop and canvass how the Trump agencies have fared in court thus far. We contend that traditional critiques of judicial review carry little force in such circumstances. Further, regulatory slop should be of concern regardless of one’s political leanings because it threatens the rule of law. Rather than argue for a change to substantive administrative-law doctrine, therefore, we take a close look at courts’ remedial options in such circumstances. We conclude that a strong approach to remedies can send corrective signals to agencies that reinforce both administrative-law values and the rule of law

Mapping unstructured grid problems to the connection machine

We present a highly parallel graph mapping technique that enables one to solve unstructured grid problems on massively parallel computers. Many implicit and explicit methods for solving discretizated partial differential equations require each point in the discretization to exchange data with its neighboring points every time step or iteration. The time spent communicating can limit the high performance promised by massively parallel computing. To eliminate this bottleneck, we map the graph of the irregular problem to the graph representing the interconnection topology of the computer such that the sum of the distances that the messages travel is minimized. We show that, in comparison to a naive assignment of processors, our heuristic mapping algorithm significantly reduces the communication time on the Connection Machine, CM-2

Efficient ICCG on a shared memory multiprocessor

Different approaches are discussed for exploiting parallelism in the ICCG (Incomplete Cholesky Conjugate Gradient) method for solving large sparse symmetric positive definite systems of equations on a shared memory parallel computer. Techniques for efficiently solving triangular systems and computing sparse matrix-vector products are explored. Three methods for scheduling the tasks in solving triangular systems are implemented on the Sequent Balance 21000. Sample problems that are representative of a large class of problems solved using iterative methods are used. We show that a static analysis to determine data dependences in the triangular solve can greatly improve its parallel efficiency. We also show that ignoring symmetry and storing the whole matrix can reduce solution time substantially

Fossilization in second language acquisition: some experimental data from the second language classroom

Higgs and Clifford (1982) claim that grammatical accuracy must be stressed before communicative modes of language instruction can be undertaken. Implicit in this article is that grammar must be taught deductively and that students taught second languages through the use of communicative models, in which grammar is inductively taught, do not learn grammar. In this study, experimental sections of first semester Spanish courses were taught using the natural approach methodology and control sections were taught by instructors using a modified grammar-translation methodology including deductive grammar instruction. Students from all sections took the same department-administered discretepoint exams. The data presented herein show that the experimental sections out-performed the sections taught by traditional grammar-translation methods

Explaining policy making in the People's Republic of China: the case of the Urban Resident Minimum Livelihood Guarantee System, 1992-2003

From 1992 to 2003 the emergence of the urban resident Minimum Livelihood Guarantee (MLG) system saw a major reconfiguration and expansion of social assistance in the People's Republic of China (PRC). There are currently two gaps in current studies of the MLG which this dissertation will address. First, detailed historical information on the MLG is lacking in the English language. Second, the focus of current studies on the effectiveness of the MLG has led to an implicitly rational explanation for the emergence and development of the policy. Such an explanation does not provide a satisfactory explanation for the MLG. Using Chinese language sources and interview data collected during two field trips to the PRC this dissertation uses four different periods in the MLG's development to argue that that explaining the programme requires a more complex approach. Drawing on insights provided by the China studies and wider political science literature I argue that the development of the MLG system has been a complex process which can be explained by using a synthesis of concepts. These are the role played by policy sponsors, a new concept developed in the dissertation, and policy entrepreneurs. Second, the continued importance of the structure of the Chinese state. Finally, the influence of feedback from previous policy decisions and outcomes. These three concepts are used to examine four significant stages of the MLG programme's development. First, the often overlooked emergence of the first MLG programme in Shanghai between 1992 and 1993 is examined. Second, the MLG's shift from a local innovation to a national policy from 1994 to 1997 is investigated. Third, the factors behind the significant expansion of the MLG between 1999 and 2003 are contrasted with more low key developments in the scope and delivery of social assistance. Finally, the concepts developed and applied to the MLG are taken and used to explain the emergence and spread of the Community Public Service Agencies in Dalian. I conclude that the synthesis of the policy sponsor and neo-institutionalist concepts provide a richer explanation of the MLG than that implicit in the existing literature

Assessing the Need and Desire for Nutritional Education

Many people suffer from health conditions that may be affected directly by diet and nutrition including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, iron deficiency anemia, obesity, coronary artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease. Education of providers and patients alike may help decrease the prevalence of these health issues and their sequalae. The St. Albans Community has slightly poorer health and nutrition when compared to the entire state of Vermont. Patients in an outpatient primary care clinic in St. Albans, VT were provided with a survey that would assess: The patient’s confidence in their nutritional skills and knowledge Their willingness to go to a nutrition appointment Their preference in who would provide the nutritional education to them Results from the survey were used to attempt to understand some of the driving forces for poor nutrition.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1607/thumbnail.jp

Behavioral finance: Its history and its future

The field of behavioral finance has attempted to explain a litany of biases, heuristics, and inefficiencies present in financial markets since its creation in the 1980’s. This paper is structured as a comprehensive literature review of behavioral finance, and includes both the seminal works as well as more recent papers. The various subtopics of behavioral finance will also be analyzed, which include loss aversion, corporate finance, and momentum/contrarian investing. Finally, this paper will draw unique conclusions across behavioral finance and hypothesize about what topics within behavioral finance are likely to yield the most interesting research in the near future