Henry A. Wallace to John D. Feerick

Letter from Vice President Henry A. Wallace to Dean John D. Feerick, regarding his scholarly article on presidential inability.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/twentyfifth_amendment_correspondence/1009/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of reinforcement learning strategies for predation in a mimic-model prey environment

In this paper we propose a mathematical learning model for a stochastic automaton simulating the behaviour of a predator operating in a random environment occupied by two types of prey: palatable mimics and unpalatable models. Specifically, a well known linear reinforcement learning algorithm is used to update the probabilities of the two actions, eat prey or ignore prey, at every random encounter. Each action elicits a probabilistic response from the environment that can be either favorable or unfavourable. We analyse both fixed and varying stochastic responses for the system. The basic approach of mimicry is defined and a short review of relevant previous approaches in the literature is given. Finally, the conditions for continuous predator performance improvement are explicitly formulated and precise definitions of predatory efficiency and mimicry efficiency are also provided

Assessing and enhancing quality through outcomes-based continuing professional development (CPD): a review of current practice

Numerous professional bodies have questioned whether traditional input-based continuing professional development (CPD) schemes are effective at measuring genuine learning and improving practice performance and patient health. The most commonly used type of long-established CPD activities, such as conferences, lectures and symposia, have been found to have a limited effect on improving practitioner competence and performance, and no significant effect on patient health outcomes. Additionally, it is thought that the impact of many CPD activities is reduced when they are undertaken in isolation outside of a defined structure of directed learning. In contrast, CPD activities which are interactive, encourage reflection on practice, provide opportunities to practice skills, involve multiple exposures, help practitioners to identify between current performance and a standard to be achieved, and are focused on outcomes, are the most effective at improving practice and patient health outcomes

"We've had nothing for so long that we don't know what to ask for", New Deal for Communities and the regeneration of socially excluded terrain

This paper explores New Labour’s desire to refurbish the physical and social fabric of excluded neighbourhoods through its New Deal for Communities (NDC) programme. It begins by examining three key concepts that embody and underpin this policy intervention – community, agency and exclusion and proceeds by contrasting these conceptual dimensions with a set of discordant, intra-neighbourhood processes of conflict, contestation and division, identified by recently conducted fieldwork in an NDC area. I argue that such processes produce a complex social terrain that is inhabited by social agents with a diverse range of needs, values and experiences, before discussing how this challenges and de-stabilises NDC’s aspiration to ‘promote’ community, change individual behaviour and tackle exclusion effectively. The paper concludes by questioning whether New Labour’s desire to implement a ‘community’ project, shaped by theoretical precepts, constrains NDC’s ability to deliver lasting change to excluded areas