Property Tax: A Primer and a Modest Proposal for Maine

Property taxation has been viewed for years as the perfect “dragon to be slain” and by most “as both bad and doomed.” In spite of being one of the most commonly questioned and scrutinized issues by voters and politicians, property taxation survives as the primary revenue source for local governments. Maine\u27s experience is an example of this continuing debate. The 2005 reform attempt by the Legislature known as LD 1 is the most recent example. Municipal over-dependence on the property tax, rising property values, unfunded state mandates, loss of federal revenues, and increased spending has significantly increased the percentage of Maine taxpayers\u27 personal income needed to pay the tax, raising Maine\u27s property tax burden to one of the highest in the nation. In spite of a general consensus that Maine must ameliorate its property tax burden and provide significant relief to those for which the tax is most burdensome, the means to that end is not obvious or simple, but still needs to be pursued. This Article provides a context for the discussion that frequently demonstrates a lack of understanding of the tax\u27s historic base, evolution, and its many-faceted aspects. This is an opportunity to step back and view the whole of the tax, which so many believe is in need of reform. There are a variety of legal limitations, reform alternatives, and experiences that need to be understood for reform discussions to be successful. In this Article, and in conjunction with explaining the alternatives for property tax relief, the authors have made some modest proposals for additional property tax reform in Maine to go beyond Governor John Baldacci\u27s and the 122nd Legislature\u27s efforts in the January 2005 enactment of LD 1. Some of these proposals are simple and practical; others are not. These proposals and others need to be considered for the welfare of Maine taxpayers and the state\u27s future. All proposals must be considered in the context of the history of the property tax and its legal limitations

US Foreign Relations Under Harding, Coolidge and Hoover: Power and Constraint

In the aftermath of World War II, scholarly studies of interwar US foreign relations described an era of isolationism and insularity, a time when the United States failed to rise to its emerging global responsibilities. If this view still retains a degree of purchase in the public mind, half a century later contemporary historians can draw upon several generations of detailed research to offer a more nuanced synthesis of events. Unilateralism, anti-interventionism, and the pursuit of peace were influential forces in American life, but they competed and interacted with a variety of other internationalist, expansionist and transnational tendencies. US foreign relations in the 1920s were shaped by both the tremendous cultural, economic, and political power accrued in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the constraints of domestic politics and a comparatively weak apparatus for overseas power projection. Republican leaders focused on various forms of indirect politics to promote their interests overseas. Relying on bankers, businessmen, and other private groups, they enjoyed no small success, enlarging the global economic and cultural influence of the United States even as other Americans sought to challenge these developments through activism and transnational affiliations of their own. Nevertheless, despite this increasingly complex picture of US interwar engagement with the world, in at least one respect the traditionalists were right: absent any sustained politico-military commitment to restrain rival Great Power aggression, the United States was unable to respond to the crises of the early Depression years, and this failure ultimately set the scene for the larger catastrophes of the decade to come

Theory of Expert Leadership (TEL) in Psychiatry

Objective Leaders’ technical competence – ‘expert knowledge’ – has been shown in many settings to be associated with better organizational performance. In universities, for example, there is longitudinal evidence that research-focused scholars make the best leaders; results from a hospital study show that doctors instead of professional managers are most closely associated with the best performing institutions. To explain these patterns, and raise hypotheses, a theory of expert leadership (TEL) has been developed that might explain these patterns. In this paper the framework for expert leadership is applied to psychiatry. Conclusions The theory of expert leadership (TEL) proposes that psychiatric leaders, as opposed to nonexpert managers, improve organizational performance through several channels. First, experts’ knowledge influences organizational strategy. Second, having been ‘one of them’, a psychiatrist understands how to create the optimal work environment for psychiatric teams, through appropriate goal-setting, evaluation and support. These factors are positively associated with workers’ wellbeing and performance. Third, exceptional psychiatrist-leaders are likely to set high standards for hiring. Fourth, leaders’ credibility extends their influence among core workers, and also signals organizational priorities to stakeholders. Finally, a necessary prerequisite of TEL is that expert leaders have direct executive power inclusive of budgetary and strategic oversight

How to stay in pole position: hire a boss who has worked on the floor

If you had to make a guess about who will win the Japanese Grand Prix, how might you choose? In data spanning the entire 60 year history of Formula 1 Championships, my co-author, Ganna Pogrebna, and I have found that it has a lot to do with leadership. F1 teams that are led by former drivers or mechanics outperform those who are led by either managers or qualified engineers. We also find that when a team leader has 10 years of competitive driving experience, instead of zero years, there is a 16 per cent higher chance of their team performing well in a Grand Prix race. That is a big effect. Our research reveals that the best leaders are those who have previously ‘walked-the-walk’ – individuals who are experts in the core business of their organization. I will return to this later. The first not able point about this study is that it shows that leaders matter

Imaginative anticipation: Towards a theology of care for those with dementia

Dementia is a degenerative disease which appears to take away personhood and identity and calls into question how we understand what it means to be a person. My argument is that how people with dementia are seen and imagined is key both to the understanding of their value and the care that is offered. The aim of this study is to determine how the Christian ethos of Methodist Homes (MHA) influences the care of people with dementia in order to develop a general theology of care from within practical theology. The thesis explores the ways in which the Methodist emphases of social justice and prevenient grace offer a basis for dementia care, and how MHA has drawn on its origins within the Methodist Church to develop an ethos of care that places respect for the person with dementia at the centre. This concern for those with dementia is then surveyed and the themes of respect and relationality emerge offering the potential for human becoming. Within MHA the care offered is based on a person-centred model. In order to discover how the Christian ethos of the organisation influences care this thesis explores patterns of delivering care in three homes of each of three types; well-established, recently-acquired and new-build. In each home the views of the staff were surveyed. Three in-depth interviews were conducted when questions were asked in order to understand their perception of the person with dementia. The interviews uncovered what carers regarded as good care and when care did not meet the needs, and why they believed that happened. Browning’s ‘strategic practical theology’ was used to evaluate these findings from within a Christian context to examine the influence of MHA’s ethos on the care offered. The core value chosen as the most important for care was ‘respect’; and while the care offered across all types was ‘person-centred’ the way it was delivered varied. The culture of MHA that gave rise to the values is investigated, along with the challenge of retaining ‘mutuality’ as an ideal as the needs of older people changed. The themes that emerged were those around quality of life and the things that enable the change in thinking from basic ‘caring’ to ‘caring for the person’ as the person is seen in a different way. Dementia is sometimes called the ‘theological disease’, and this understanding of dementia and the person is explored to discern what can be offered from theology to the best ideals of care in order to provide true person-centred care that is respectful of the person. I argue from within practical theology that a new way of seeing the person with dementia is needed in order to anticipate the possibility for human flourishing that is possible in a person, even in dementia. And that, offered with respect, good person-centred dementia-care can be a sign of the Kingdom. Part 1 of the D.Prof. comprises four sections in which I explore dementia from within practical theology; how it impacts on personhood, how I, as a practitioner within Methodist Homes (MHA), could enable others to offer care of the whole person; and how the carers’ understanding of the person makes a difference. In the first section, the literature was surveyed in order to discover the historical development of the term dementia. Until the middle of the twentieth century, there was little care as the condition was not named. But then drugs were discovered that could control unsocial behaviour, and the medical model of care developed. However, a new culture of care developed (person-centred care), because of the better understanding of the social nature of the disease. From within the context of theology, I explored how personhood can be understood within dementia and how, even in dementia, it might be possible to grow into the fullness of Christ as spirituality is enhanced. The second section was in the form of a publishable article which explored how it might be possible to evaluate spiritual care within a dementia-care setting. This took the form of a case study in which I worked with staff in a home that had difficulty evidencing spiritual care. It raised issues about the nature of care and assessment of spiritual care, as well as the rationale behind, and the delivery of, that care. What developed used the biblical concept of ‘fruits of the spirit’ as a way of recognising spiritual dis-ease as it is these qualities which enable inspiration, reverence, awe, meaning and purpose even in those who have no religious beliefs. The model used to offer this care was through the 3 R’s of reflection, relationship and restoration. Section three, reflective-practice section, emerged out of my practice as a chaplaincy adviser for MHA, in which I reflected critically on the contexts and understanding of the manager and chaplain, and how a chaplaincy manual was developed. The ability of the chaplain to work effectively and enable good spiritual care in the home, depended on the relationship between the manager and chaplain. By exploring the culture of both manager and chaplain, a way to enable good communication was discovered. The role of pastoral care and how it is seen within an organisation, that must have a professional management, was investigated and ways suggested for mutual understanding using the chaplaincy manual. The last section examined whether the Christian ethos of MHA encouraged a model of person-centred care. I suggested that a way of making sense of the data is by using types to describe personhood and how that can be made visible by their care. Considering the way that therapeutic interventions (reminiscence therapy, reality orientation, validation therapy, drug therapy) were used offered a way to enable the ethos of the home to be seen more clearly. Central to theological anthropology is the concept of the person which includes an ethical dimension. MHA has the strap line, ‘care informed by Christian concern’, so the study investigated whether this Christian ethos is lived out in the care offered. These aspects of study have led me to begin this thesis to research how care is delivered and what carers understand to be appropriate care. An appreciation of the context in which this care takes place also highlighted a need to conduct a theological exploration of the nature of the person with dementia

A connectionist model for dynamic control

The application of a connectionist modeling method known as competition-based spreading activation to a camera tracking task is described. The potential is explored for automation of control and planning applications using connectionist technology. The emphasis is on applications suitable for use in the NASA Space Station and in related space activities. The results are quite general and could be applicable to control systems in general

Violence brief interventions: a rapid review

Provision of a Violence Brief Intervention (VBI) to young men undergoing treatment for a violent injury may represent a teachable moment for the prevention of future interpersonal violence in Scotland. Prior to intervention design, a rapid review of the research literature was necessary to examine existing programmes. After title and abstract screening, eight distinct VBIs were identified from full texts. Whilst none of the programmes were a perfect match for our intervention goals, they did demonstrate the potential effectiveness of brief interventions for violence prevention at both cognitive and behavioural levels. Key themes of successful interventions included brief motivational interviewing as an effective method of engaging with at-risk participants and encouraging change, the utility of social norms approaches for correcting peer norm misperceptions, the usefulness of working with victims of violence in medical settings (particularly oral and maxillofacial surgeries), the importance of addressing the role of alcohol after violent injury, the advantages of a computer-therapist hybrid model of delivery, and the need for adequate follow-up evaluation as part of a randomised control trial. This information has been used to design a VBI which is currently under evaluation