Diagram spaces, diagram spectra, and spectra of units

This article compares the infinite loop spaces associated to symmetric spectra, orthogonal spectra, and EKMM S-modules. Each of these categories of structured spectra has a corresponding category of structured spaces that receives the infinite loop space functor \Omega^\infty. We prove that these models for spaces are Quillen equivalent and that the infinite loop space functors \Omega^\infty agree. This comparison is then used to show that two different constructions of the spectrum of units gl_1 R of a commutative ring spectrum R agree.Comment: 62 pages. The definition of the functor \mathbb{Q} is changed. Sections 8, 9, 17 and 18 contain revisions and/or new materia

Term testing: a case study

Purpose and background: The litigation world has many examples of cases where the volume of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) demands that litigators use automatic means to assist with document identification, classification, and filtering. This case study describes one such process for one case. This case study is not a comprehensive analysis of the entire case, only the Term Testing portion. Term Testing is an analytical practice of refining match terms by running in-depth analysis on a sampling of documents. The goal of term testing is to reduce the number of false negatives (relevant / privilege document with no match, also known as “misdetections”) and false positives (documents matched but not actually relevant / privilege) as much as possible. The case was an employment discrimination suit, against a government agency. The collection effort turned up common sources of ESI: hard drives, network shares, CDs and DVDs, and routine e-mail storage and backups. Initial collection, interviews, and reviews had revealed that a few key documents, such as old versions of policies, had not been retained or collected. Then an unexpected source of information was unearthed: one network administrator had been running an unauthorized “just-in-case” tracer on the email system, outside the agency’s document retention policies, which created dozens of tapes full of millions of encrypted compressed emails, covering more years than the agency’s routine email backups. The agency decided to process and review these tracer emails for the missing key documents, even though the overall volume of relevant documents would rise exponentially. The agency had clear motivation to reduce the volume of documents flowing into relevancy and privilege reviews, but had concerns about the defensibility of using an automated process to determine which documents would never be reviewed. The case litigators and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) decided to use a process of Term Testing to ensure that automated filtering was both defensible and as accurate as possible

Evidence-Based Healthcare: The Importance of Effective Interprofessional Working for High Quality Veterinary Services, a UK Example

<p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Objective: </strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">To highlight the importance of evidence-based research, not only for the consideration of clinical diseases and individual patient treatment, but also for investigating complex healthcare systems, as demonstrated through a focus on veterinary interprofessional working.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Background:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">Evidence-Based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM) was developed due to concerns over inconsistent approaches to therapy being delivered by individuals. However, a focus purely on diagnosis and treatment will miss other potential causes of substandard care including the holistic system. Veterinary services are provided by interprofessional teams; research on these teams is growing.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Evidentiary value:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">This paper outlines results from four articles, written by the current authors, which are unique in their focus on interprofessional practice teams in the UK. Through mixed methods, the articles demonstrate an evidence base of the effects of interprofessional working on the quality of service delivery.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Results:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The articles explored demonstrate facilitators and challenges of the practice system on interprofessional working and the outcomes, including errors. The results encourage consideration of interprofessional relationships and activities in veterinary organisations. Interprofessional working is an example of one area which can affect the quality of veterinary services.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Conclusion: </strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The papers presented on veterinary interprofessional working are an example of the opportunities for future research on various topics within evidence-based healthcare.</p><p class="AbstractSummary"><strong>Application:</strong></p><p class="AbstractSummary">The results are pertinent to members of veterinary teams seeking to improve their service delivery, to educators looking to enhance their students’ understanding of interprofessional working, and to researchers, who will hopefully be encouraged to consider evidence-based healthcare more holistically. </p><br /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/oa-icon.jpg" alt="Open Access" /> <img src="https://www.veterinaryevidence.org/rcvskmod/icons/pr-icon.jpg" alt="Peer Reviewed" /

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

Fighting Multiple Tax Havens

This paper develops a competition theory framework that evaluates an important aspect of the OECD’s Harmful Tax Practices Initiative against tax havens. We show that the sequential nature of the process is harmful and more costly than a “big bang” multilateral agreement. The sequentiality may even prevent the process from being completed successfully. Closing down a subset of tax havens reduces competition among the havens that remain active. This makes their “tax haven business” more profitable and shifts a larger share of rents to these remaining tax havens, making them more reluctant to give up their “tax haven business”. Moreover, the outcome of this process, reducing the number of tax havens, but not eliminating them altogether, may reduce welfare in the OECD

Homology of E_n Ring Spectra and Iterated THH

We describe an iterable construction of THH for an E_n ring spectrum. The reduced version is an iterable bar construction and its n-th iterate gives a model for the shifted cotangent complex at the augmentation, representing reduced topological Quillen homology of an augmented E_n algebra.Comment: Some additional exposition added. Minor correction

Parametrized spaces model locally constant homotopy sheaves

We prove that the homotopy theory of parametrized spaces embeds fully and faithfully in the homotopy theory of simplicial presheaves, and that its essential image consists of the locally homotopically constant objects. This gives a homotopy-theoretic version of the classical identification of covering spaces with locally constant sheaves. We also prove a new version of the classical result that spaces parametrized over X are equivalent to spaces with an action of the loop space of X. This gives a homotopy-theoretic version of the correspondence between covering spaces over X and sets with an action of the fundamental group of X. We then use these two equivalences to study base change functors for parametrized spaces.Comment: 26 pages; exposition improve

Identity, environment and mental wellbeing in the veterinary profession

Mental health and career dissatisfaction are of increasing concern to the veterinary profession. The influence of identity on the psychological wellbeing of veterinarians has not been widely explored. Twelve recent veterinary graduates were enrolled in a private social media discussion group, and their identities investigated through narrative inquiry: a methodology which enables identity priorities to be extrapolated from stories of experience. Two distinct variants of the veterinary identity were identified: an academic, ‘diagnosis-focused’ identity, which prioritised definitive diagnosis and best-evidence treatment; and a broader ‘challenge-focused’ identity, where priorities additionally included engaging with the client, challenging environment or veterinary business. Contextual challenges (such as a client with limited finances or difficult interpersonal interactions) were seen as a source of frustration for those with a diagnosis-focused identity, as they obstructed the realisation of identity goals. Overcoming these challenges provided satisfaction to those with a challenge-focused identity. The employment environment of the graduates (general veterinary practice) provided more opportunities for those with a challenge-focused identity to realise identity goals, and more markers of emotional wellbeing were apparent in their stories. Markers of poor emotional health were evident in the stories of those with a diagnosis-focused identity