Using cost effectiveness analysis; a beginners guide

Objective ‐ This report seeks to describe the key elements of cost effectiveness analysis (CEA) and to demonstrate how such analysis may be used in the library environment. Methods ‐ The paper uses a step‐by‐step approach to walk the non‐economist reader through the basics of conducting a cost effectiveness study. It provides an outline of the key elements of CEA using examples from the library sector, and it presents a case study of a CEA in a hospital library. The case study compares two library services, mediated searching and information skills training, to illustrate the application of CEA and to highlight some of its limitations. Results ‐ CEA is a comparative analysis tool. Its key elements include a study question regarding a particular process or procedure that identifies both costs and effectiveness; a justification of the study’s perspective; evidence of effectiveness; comprehensive identification of all relevant costs, and appropriate measurement of costs and effectiveness. Conclusions ‐ CEA enables comparison of services or interventions regarding particular processes or procedures in terms of their costs, and it measures their effectiveness. The results can be used to aid decision‐making about service provision

Commentary: Challenging Three Electoral College Indictments

On the day the Electoral College met and elected Donald J. Trump the 45th president of the United States, the New York Times editorial board published a scathing attack on the Electoral College as an antiquated mechanism which overwhelming majorities of Americans would prefer to eliminate in favor of a direct national popular vote. [excerpt

Commentary: California Secessionists Channel Logic of Southern Slaveholders

\u27Thursday night the streets were filled with excited crowds. No one talks of anything but the necessity for prompt action. . . . It is hardly prudent for any man to express his opinion adverse to immediate secession, so heated are the public passions, so intolerant of restraint is the popular will. You would probably assume that this report came from California in the wake of the 2016 election, right? After all, Alex Padilla, the California secretary of state, has now authorized the Yes California Independence Campaign to begin collecting signatures for a state referendum on California\u27s secession from the United States. [excerpt

In Defense of the Electoral College

There is hardly anything in the Constitution harder to explain, or easier to misunderstand, than the Electoral College. And when a presidential election hands the palm to a candidate who comes in second in the popular vote but first in the Electoral College tally, something deep in our democratic viscera balks and asks why the Electoral College shouldn’t be dumped as a useless relic of 18th century white, gentry privilege. Actually, there have been only five occasions when a closely divided popular vote and the electoral vote have failed to point in the same direction. No matter. After last week’s results, we’re hearing a litany of complaints: the Electoral College is undemocratic, the Electoral College is unnecessary, the Electoral College was invented to protect slavery — and the demand to push it down the memory hole. (excerpt

Commentary: Will the Courts Make Trump\u27s Presidency Less Imperial?

Nearly three months ago, Donald Trump assumed a presidency that, for more than a century, had grown seemingly endless discretionary powers. And he did so in company with Republican majorities in Congress and in 32 state legislatures -- all of which should have made his decisions unassailable. Instead, he has been stymied and embarrassed by resistance from a federal judiciary that has twice halted executive orders on the most prominent issue of his presidential campaign. So, will the federal judiciary become the wall against which Trump bleeds away the power not just of his own presidency but of the “imperial presidency” we have watched a-building since the days of Teddy Roosevelt? [excerpt

Representing climate and extreme weather events in integrated assessment models: A review of existing methods and options for development

The lack of information about future changes in extreme weather is a major constraint of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) of climate change. The generation of descriptions of future climate in current IAMs is assessed.We also review recent work on scenario development methods for weather extremes, focusing on those issues which are most relevant to the needs of IAMs. Finally, some options for implementing scenarios of weather extremes in IAMs are considered

Costs of Family Caregiving in Palliative Care (COFAC) questionnaire: development and piloting of a new survey tool.

BACKGROUND: Family caregivers play an important role in the care of patients receiving palliative care, yet little is known about the financial impact of family caregiving in this context. A lack of existing validated tools for collecting data on the costs of family caregiving in palliative care has resulted in a weak and limited evidence base. The aim of the study was to describe the development and initial piloting of a new survey tool which captures data on the costs of family caregiving in palliative care: the Costs of Family Caregiving (COFAC) questionnaire. METHODS: Development and piloting of the COFAC questionnaire involved 2 phases: (1) questionnaire development based on published evidence and cognitive interviews with service users; and (2) validity testing involving expert review and piloting with bereaved caregivers. RESULTS: Questionnaire content was generated from previously published research and related to work-related costs, carer time costs and out-of-pocket expenses. 2 group cognitive interviews with 15 service users refined content of the draft questionnaire. Face validity was established through expert review with 9 academics and clinicians. Piloting with 8 bereaved caregivers established acceptability and feasibility of administration. CONCLUSIONS: The COFAC tool has been shown to be valid, acceptable to bereaved caregivers and feasible to administer. The COFAC questionnaire is recommended for economic research in palliative care which seeks to capture data from a broad societal perspective which includes family caregiver costs

Telling one story, or many? An ecolinguistic analysis of climate change stories in UK national newspaper editorials

© 2019 Media reporting of climate change plays a key role in shaping public perceptions and influencing climate policy. Scholarly debates about the representation of climate change in the mass media have largely concentrated on journalistic norms, expertise and ideology, on the role of imagery or on narrow aspects of language use. This study takes a different approach by focusing on how the story of climate change is told in the UK through mainstream newspaper editorials. Four climate change stories that have shaped the UK's national conversation on climate change are identified as Lukewarmer, Ecoactivist, Smart Growth Reformer and Ecomodernist. The narrative representation of climate change of these four stories as captured in the editorials of five UK national newspapers in 2001, 2007 and 2015 is then analysed using a multi-faceted ecolinguistic framework. Our analysis shows that the partisan divide on climate change between politically ‘left’ and ‘right’ broadsheets is much less in 2015 when compared with 2001. It identifies the salience of the Ecomodernist story across a broad political spectrum of print media in 2015. The Ecomodernist story emphasises technology and energy innovation responses to climate change, whilst also recognising that adaptation to extreme weather events is necessary. These two story-elements are present across different climate change stories, thus highlighting investment in climate adaptation and in energy R&D as responses to climate change that are less exposed to ideological contention

The School Improvement Partnership Programme: Using Collaboration and Enquiry to tackle Educational Inequity

No abstract available