Experts and evidence in deliberation: scrutinising the role of witnesses and evidence in mini-publics, a case study

Experts hold a prominent position in guiding and shaping policy-making; however, the nature of expert input to decision-making is a topic of public debate. A key aspect of deliberative processes such as citizens’ juries is the provision of information to participants, usually from expert witnesses. However, there is currently little guidance on some of the challenges that organisers and advocates of citizens’ juries must consider regarding expert involvement, including the role of the witness, issues around witness identification and selection, the format of evidence provision, the evidence itself, and how these factors affect the experience of the participants and the witnesses. Here, we explore these issues through detailed case study of three citizens’ juries on onshore wind farm development in Scotland, including interviews with the witnesses involved. This is complemented by examining a cohort of mini-publics held on energy and the environment topics, and, where possible, discussion with the program organisers. We identify a series of issues and sensitivities that can compromise the effectiveness and fairness of the evidence-giving in mini-publics, for the participants, the witnesses and the organisers. We recommend approaches and areas for future work to address these challenges. This is the first time that the ways of involving witnesses in such processes have been so comprehensively examined, and is timely given the increasing interest in democratic innovations such as mini-publics and the current discourse concerning experts

Social cognitive, parental, and family functioning profiles of children with conduct problems and different levels of callous-unemotional traits

This thesis was conducted with the broad aim of advancing the understanding of social cognition, parenting, and family functioning in children with conduct problems (CP) and high levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/HCU), children with CP and low levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/LCU) and typically developing children (TD) children and their parents/caregivers. In Chapter 2, development of new task that assesses ability to understand how antisocial acts are perceived by others is described. In Chapter 3, children with CP/HCU showed an intact ability to represent mental states of others, but a reduced tendency to update mental state inferences as a function of different minds, when compared to children with CP/LCU and TD children. In Chapter 4, we found a similar pattern of mentalising in parents/caregivers of CP/HCU children, as compared with parents/caregivers of CP/LCU and TD children. In Chapter 5, parents/caregivers of CP children reported elevated rates of inconsistent discipline compared with parents/caregivers of TD children. CP/HCU children reported difficulty with monitoring their child, as compared to the other two groups. Children with CP/HCU reported reduced involvement with their fathers. Qualitative reports by parents and children provided possible explanations of how and why it is difficult and disheartening to parent children with CP. In Chapter 6, parents/caregivers of CP/HCU children reported significantly poorer quality of family’s affective involvement than parents/caregivers of CP/LCU and TD children, as well as differences in roles and general functioning. Parent/caregiver qualitative descriptions offered a more nuanced insight into potential factors contributing to differences in family functioning

Introduction to 'Counselling and Psychotherapy in Organisational Settings'

This is the introduction to a book entitled 'Counselling and Psychotherapy in Organisational Settings', co-edited with Ruth Roberts

Reliable Sources: Recruiting and Developing Evaluators, External to the University Community

Wiggins and McTighe (2005, 18) challenge educators to think critically about acceptable assessment evidence by asking: “How will we know if students have achieved the desired results? What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and proficiency?” (p 18). Teacher education programs must face these important questions and affirm that answers are both valid and equitable. This article explores the benefits of evaluator training in the scoring of high-stakes work samplings produced by teacher preparation candidates

Surviving the First Years: A Principals Guide for Implementing a Quality Special Education Program

In today’s schools, building level administrators are faced with a variety of challenges as they strive to provide leadership that promotes successful learning experiences for all students. Promoting the success of all students is also the foundation of current federal legislation with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates as well as the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Answering the call of these directives and the goal for all students to experience success, building level principals must have fundamental knowledge of special education programs and services. However, research indicates that principal preparation course work may not target special education leadership and responsibilities (DiPaulo and Tschanned-Moran 2003). Further studies, such as work done by Lasky and Karge (2006), examined principal preparation programs and found the need for increased training in the area of special education during the preservice phase. Therefore, with little emphasis during the principal preparation experience in providing leadership at the building level in the area of special education, many beginning principals find themselves challenged on a daily basis. Learning on-the-job becomes the starting point for all fundamental knowledge regarding special education leadership

Advances in understanding the regulation of apoptosis and mitosis by peroxisome-proliferator activated receptors in pre-clinical models: relevance for human health and disease

Peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) are a family of related receptors implicated in a diverse array of biological processes. There are 3 main isotypes of PPARs known as PPARα, PPARβ and PPARγ and each is organized into domains associated with a function such as ligand binding, activation and DNA binding. PPARs are activated by ligands, which can be both endogenous such as fatty acids or their derivatives, or synthetic, such as peroxisome proliferators, hypolipidaemic drugs, anti-inflammatory or insulin-sensitizing drugs. Once activated, PPARs bind to DNA and regulate gene transcription. The different isotypes differ in their expression patterns, lending clues on their function. PPARα is expressed mainly in liver whereas PPARγ is expressed in fat and in some macrophages. Activation of PPARα in rodent liver is associated with peroxisome proliferation and with suppression of apoptosis and induction of cell proliferation. The mechanism by which activation of PPARα regulates apoptosis and proliferation is unclear but is likely to involve target gene transcription. Similarly, PPARγ is involved in the induction of cell growth arrest occurring during the differentiation process of fibroblasts to adipocytes. However, it has been implicated in the regulation of cell cycle and cell proliferation in colon cancer models. Less in known concerning PPARβ but it was identified as a downstream target gene for APC/β-catenin/T cell factor-4 tumor suppressor pathway, which is involved in the regulation of growth promoting genes such as c-myc and cyclin D1. Marked species and tissue differences in the expression of PPARs complicate the extrapolation of pre-clinical data to humans. For example, PPARα ligands such as the hypolipidaemic fibrates have been used extensively in the clinic over the past 20 years to treat cardiovascular disease and side effects of clinical fibrate use are rare, despite the observation that these compounds are rodent carcinogens. Similarly, adverse clinical responses have been seen with PPARγ ligands that were not predicted by pre-clinical models. Here, we consider the response to PPAR ligands seen in pre-clinical models of efficacy and safety in the context of human health and disease