Public Defense in Tennessee: Public Pretense?

Transcript of a presentation given during the 2017 Symposium by Dawn Deaner the Metropolitan Public Defender for Nashville-Davidson County. Today I will talk about the problems I see in Tennessee, and some solutions that could help. I am a public defender, and I am going to talk about public defense in Tennessee from a public defender’s perspective. I will touch upon ideals of equality, justice, fairness, and ethics. I will also touch on our legal duty, as well as our moral duty as people who care, hopefully, about equal justice in this country

Nonparametric Instrumental Variables Estimation Under Misspecification

We show that nonparametric instrumental variables (NPIV) estimators are highly sensitive to misspecification: an arbitrarily small deviation from instrumental validity can lead to large asymptotic bias for a broad class of estimators. One can mitigate the problem by placing strong restrictions on the structural function in estimation. However, if the true function does not obey the restrictions then imposing them imparts bias. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the sensitivity to invalid instruments and bias from imposing excessive restrictions. In light of this trade-off we propose a partial identification approach to estimation in NPIV models. We provide a point estimator that minimizes the worst-case asymptotic bias and error-bounds that explicitly account for some degree of misspecification. We apply our methods to the empirical setting of Blundell et al. (2007) and Horowitz (2011) to estimate shape-invariant Engel curves

IT\u27S NOT RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS : REGULATED COMMODITY AND WASTE PRODUCTION IN THE ALBERTA OILSANDS

This dissertation examines the regulated oilsands mining industry of Alberta, Canada, widely considered the world’s largest surface mining project. The industrial processes of oilsands mining produce well over one million barrels of petroleum commodities daily, plus even larger quantities of airborne and semisolid waste. The project argues for a critical account of production concretized in the co-constitutional relations of obdurate materiality and labor activity within a framework of regulated petro-capitalism. This pursuit requires multiple methods that combine archives, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews to understand workers’ shift-to-shift relations inside the “black box” of regulated oilsands mining production where materiality co-constitutes the processes and outcomes of resource development and waste-intensive production. Here, the central contradiction pits the industry’s colossal environmental impact and its regulated environmental relations, which – despite chronic exceedances – are held under some control by provincial and federal environmental agents, further attenuated by firms’ selective voluntary compliance with global quality standards as well as whistleblowers and otherwise “troublesome” employees. ‘It’s not rainbows and unicorns,’ explains one informant, distilling workers’ views of the safety and environmental hazards they simultaneously produce and endure as wage laborers despite pervasive regulation. In addition to buttressing geographical conceptualizations of socionatural resource production, contributions arise in the sympathetic engagement with workers, which may hold useful insights for activism against the industry’s environmental outcomes

Psychometric evaluation of the Sport Disengagement Questionnaire

The present study assessed the construct validity of the Sport Disengagement Questionnaire (SDQ) through a series of factor analyses and examined demographic variables in relation to total SDQ scores. The overall sample was comprised of 400 collegiate athletes representing five National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I universities and one NCAA Division II university across a total of 17 varsity sports. The participants completed either a pencil/paper (n = 253) or an online (n = 147) version of the 36-item SDQ and a demographic sheet. Three separate reliability analyses, interfactor correlation analyses, and factor analyses were conducted: one for the pencil/paper sample, one for the online sample, and one for the combined pencil/paper and online samples. It was hypothesized that the SDQ contained six factors named Career/Future Planning, Achievement Satisfaction, Personal Investment, Social Dynamics, Athletic Identity, and Health/Fitness. The resulting factor structures were analyzed, and although slightly different, were deemed to be similar enough for overall conclusions regarding the factor structure of the SDQ to be formulated. Overall, support for five SDQ factors and 25 items was found. These factors were Health/Fitness, Career/Future Planning, Achievement Satisfaction, Athletic Identity, and Investment. Follow-up reliability and interfactor correlation analyses were conducted utilizing these final items. In addition, several analyses utilizing demographic variables were also performed. A MANOVA indicated that there were differences on several of the SDQ factor scores on the basis of gender and class standing. Males perceived less difficulty in adjusting to sport disengagement on the Health/Fitness factor while females perceived less difficulty in adjusting to sport disengagement on the Career/Future Planning and Achievement Satisfaction factors. In addition, older student athletes perceived less difficulty in adjusting to sport disengagement on the Career/Future Planning, Athletic Identity, and Investment factors compared to younger student athletes. A t-test revealed differences in satisfaction scores between the pencil/paper and online samples. The online sample reported greater satisfaction with the convenience of completing the study materials compared to the pencil/paper sample. Recommendations for future psychometric work on the SDQ are addressed

Men Are More Likely than Women to Slow in the Marathon

Studies on nonelite distance runners suggest that men are more likely than women to slow their pace in a marathon. Purpose: This study determined the reliability of the sex difference in pacing across many marathons and after adjusting women\u27s performances by 12% to address men\u27s greater maximal oxygen uptake and also incorporating information on racing experience. Methods: Data were acquired from 14 US marathons in 2011 and encompassed 91,929 performances. For 2929 runners, we obtained experience data from a race-aggregating Web site. We operationalized pace maintenance as the percentage change in pace observed in the second half of the marathon relative to the first half. Pace maintenance was analyzed as a continuous variable and as two categorical variables, as follows: maintain the pace, defined as slowing=30%. Results: The mean change in pace was 15.6% and 11.7% for men and women, respectively (P \u3c 0.0001). This sex difference was significant for all 14 marathons. The odds for women were 1.46 (95% confidence interval, 1.41–1.50; P \u3c 0.0001) times higher than men to maintain the pace and 0.36 (95% confidence interval, 0.34–0.38; P \u3c 0.0001) times that of men to exhibit marked slowing. Slower finishing times were associated with greater slowing, especially in men (interaction, P \u3c 0.0001). However, the sex difference in pacing occurred across age and finishing time groups. Making the 12% adjustment to women’s performances lessened the magnitude of the sex difference in pacing but not its occurrence. Although greater experience was associated with less slowing, controlling for the experience variables did not eliminate the sex difference in pacing. Conclusions: The sex difference in pacing is robust. It may reflect sex differences in physiology, decision making, or both

Men and women differ in their interest and willingness to participate in exercise and sports science research

Unequal proportions of male and female participants in exercise research might be attributed, in part, to differences in interest and willingness to participate. We tested if men and women are equally interested and willing to undergo exercise research procedures and if they consider different factors when deciding to participate. Two samples completed an online survey. Sample 1 (129 men, 227 women) responded to advertisements on social media and survey-sharing websites. Sample 2 (155 men, 504 women) was comprised of undergraduate psychology students. In both samples, men were significantly more interested to learn their muscle mass amount, running speed, jump height, and ball throwing ability, and more willing to receive electrical shocks, cycle or run until exhaustion, complete strength training that causes muscle soreness, and take muscle-building supplements (all p ≤ 0.013, d = 0.23–0.48). Women were significantly more interested to learn their flexibility, and more willing to complete surveys, participate in stretching and group aerobics interventions, and participate in home exercise with online instruction (all p ≤ 0.021, d = 0.12–0.71). Women rated the following significantly more important when deciding to participate: study\u27s implications for society; personal health status; confidence in own abilities; potential anxiety during testing; type of research facility; time to complete study; and invasiveness, pain/discomfort, and possible side effects of procedures (all p \u3c 0.05, d = 0.26–0.81). Differences in interest and willingness to participate in research probably contribute to different proportions of men and women as participants in exercise research. Knowledge of these differences might help researchers develop recruitment strategies aimed at encouraging both men and women to participate in exercise studies

You Can’t Teach Speed: Sprinters Falsify the Deliberate Practice Model of Expertise

Many scientists agree that expertise requires both innate talent and proper training. Nevertheless, the highly influential deliberate practice model (DPM) of expertise holds that talent does not exist or makes a negligible contribution to performance. It predicts that initial performance will be unrelated to achieving expertise and that 10 years of deliberate practice is necessary.We tested these predictions in the domain of sprinting. In Studies 1 and 2 we reviewed biographies of 15 Olympic champions and the 20 fastest American men in U.S. history. In all documented cases, sprinters were exceptional prior to initiating training, and most reached world class status rapidly (Study 1 median = 3 years; Study 2 = 7.5). In Study 3 we surveyed U.S. national collegiate championships qualifiers in sprinters (n = 20) and throwers (n = 44). Sprinters recalled being faster as youths than did throwers, whereas throwers recalled greater strength and throwing ability. Sprinters’ best performances in their first season of high school, generally the onset of formal training, were consistently faster than 95–99% of their peers. Collectively, these results falsify the DPM for sprinting. Because speed is foundational for many sports, they challenge the DPM generally

Does the sex difference in competitiveness decrease in selective sub-populations? A test with intercollegiate distance runners

Sex differences in some preferences and motivations are well established, but it is unclear whether they persist in selective sub-populations, such as expert financial decision makers, top scientists, or elite athletes. We addressed this issue by studying competitiveness in 1,147 varsity intercollegiate distance runners. As expected, across all runners, men reported greater competitiveness with two previously validated instruments, greater competitiveness on a new elite competitiveness scale, and greater training volume, a known correlate of competitiveness. Among faster runners, the sex difference decreased for one measure of competitiveness but did not decrease for the two other competitiveness measures or either measure of training volume. Across NCAA athletic divisions (DI, DII, DIII), the sex difference did not decrease for any competitiveness or training measure. Further analyses showed that these sex differences could not be attributed to women suffering more injuries or facing greater childcare responsibilities. However, women did report greater commitment than men to their academic studies, suggesting a sex difference in priorities. Therefore, policies aiming to provide men and women with equal opportunities to flourish should acknowledge that sex differences in some kinds of preferences and motivation may persist even in selective sub-populations