Search Results

This chapter distinguishes logic as a theory of belief‐statics from our sought account of belief dynamics. The various kinds of belief change are classified. These are: surrendering, adopting or switching individual beliefs; and thereby contracting, expanding or revising one’s system of beliefs. Our account of the epistemic norms involved is agent-centric. The idealized figure of the logical paragon (as opposed to the completely fictional figure of the ‘logical saint’) is introduced as the guiding model of a rational agent who is thoroughly competent in matters of belief change. The chapter discusses what a theory of belief change needs to characterize or make feasible. Two key constraints are formulated: both minimal mutilation and minimal bloating of systems of belief undergoing contractions and revisions needs to be explicated (and ensured). The explicit goal is to provide a computationally implementable account of belief change. The chapter foreshadows welcome results to be proved about the computational complexity of the contraction problem. It stresses that our account of belief dynamics will be able to cope with differences among different schools, or ‘‐isms’, in epistemology, regarding permissible global patterns of support or justification among beliefs. The chapter includes an important discussion of methodology, invoking the contrast between propositional and first-order logic as a case study, in order to highlight the virtues of simplicity in formal modeling. This chapter promises to be an account of belief change under judiciously chosen simplifying assumptions that nevertheless allow a rich structure to come into focus, and challenging problems to emerge.

It’s important to understand the finances of colleges and universities, budgeting, and sources and uses of funding. Costs at colleges and universities are increasing for a variety of reasons. Some costs involve facilities intended to attract talent, both in terms of faculty and students. Many costs involve people who do not teach, such as administrators. These individuals are doing work that is either required (government compliance) or expected (student mental health or career counseling). So, it is a stretch to sustain the argument that rising costs in higher education are singularly a function of unnecessary layers of administration. Many universities are using innovative approaches to cut costs and improve revenue streams to their institutions.

The current orthodox view of rapidly rising higher education costs is based on stories of dysfunctional behavior in higher education. This chapter summarizes the narrative of rising cost that is based on prestige games and other arms races among schools, administrative bloat, and university faculties that are increasingly and inefficiently detached from the core mission of their universities. The second half of the chapter presents evidence that is inconsistent with these explanations. If the dysfunction narrative were true, the similarities between higher education prices and prices in other industries uncovered in Chapter 2 are coincidences. Explanations based on coincidences are not appealing. The chapter also presents a series of facts about higher education costs and prices that are difficult to reconcile with the dysfunction narrative

This chapter examines the relationship between bureaucratic efficiency and bloat and the expansion of the welfare state. It proposes two crude measures of efficiency and of bureaucratic bloat to test the idea that big spenders achieve economies of scale. The findings validate the hypothesis that at high levels of development the welfare state enjoys economies of scale, like an insurance company with a broad base of clients. This chapter also attempts to explain convergence and divergence in the size of bureaucracies and the national differences in nonmilitary public employees as a percentage of the civilian labor force for nineteen rich democracies.

This chapter shows that despite the failure of the SSEC plan—the bloated Mars Observer, the deferral of Mariner Mark II—the decade of the 1980s closed on a generally upbeat note. The optimism of 1985, dashed by Challenger, returned. Mars Observer and CRAF/Cassini, although expanding beyond austerity, were still under way. Voyager meanwhile continued to sustain the lab with encounters with Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, and together with Galileo and Magellan it combined to restore confidence at JPL. Amid the drought in planetary launches, the main sustenance for planetary scientists in this period came from Voyager 2's encounters at Uranus and Neptune, which extended Voyager's triumphal tour of the outer solar system. The encounters, however, did not simply entail sitting back and waiting for the spacecraft to get there but required much new work.

The wide range of U.S. institutions of higher learning face a number of challenges such as the balance between faculty research, teaching, and service expectations, the high and, sometimes, prohibitive cost of a college education, eroding academic standards, heated debates over curriculum issues, administrative bloat, and the contentious nature of promotion and tenure decisions. Risk management is often the key to dealing with these issues.

A 76-year-old woman was admitted to the acute medical unit with a one-week history of diarrhoea. She was opening her bowels four times per day. She had recently started a new medication.

On examination, her temperature was 36.4°C, pulse was 74 beats per minute, and blood pressure was 134/78 mmHg. She had a resting tremor in the right upper limb. Her abdomen was soft, with mild generalized tenderness.

This chapter examines technical design flaws. There are two common issues to avoid when it comes to survey design: bloated surveys, particularly without a clear analysis plan for all questions; and poorly designed survey items. No less important than the survey and other data collection tools is the plan to deploy them. As such, researchers should field test survey questions before launch. Also, debrief regularly with field survey teams to find out which questions respondents are struggling with, which parts of the survey are hardest to administer, and the like. The chapter then considers mistakes in randomization, power, and necessary sample size calculations in RCT design. Power and necessary sample size calculations rely on parameters that are hard to observe or guess. The best advice is to run these calculations multiple times, imagining a range of scenarios in the field and using a corresponding range of values for key parameters.

Hyperventilated talk about the end of the American university often presumes that soaring list-price tuition means that college cost is out of control. This chapter lays out the history of list-price tuition, net price to students, and revenue to schools. It reviews the broad economic forces that lead college cost to rise faster than the inflation rate. It then contrasts those forces with claims that cost is driven by increasing dysfunction and inefficiency in higher education. These claims that figure so prominently in today’s narrative of sky-high tuition include administrative bloat and amenity competition.

In Figure 17.1 the differential diagnosis is arranged in order of likelihood in a woman of this age, with more likely diagnoses in larger font and less likely diagnoses in smaller font. Pathologies that should be excluded at the earliest possible opportunity are shown in bold. There are a number of gynaecological pathologies that can cause acute LIF pain. Some, such as ectopic pregnancy, mittelschmerz (mid-cycle pain), or haemorrhage into a functional ovarian cyst, can only occur in menstruating women. Others, such as pelvic inflammatory disease or torsion/rupture of an ovarian cyst, are far more likely to be seen in women younger than Mrs Hamilton, but can be kept in mind as rare differentials for someone of her age. Testicular torsion can cause referred pain to either the left or right iliac fossa and tends to occur in boys and young men. Haemorrhage into a testicular tumour can also cause left or right iliac fossa pain. Thus, don’t forget to examine the testes. You should ask the standard array of questions about the pain—remember the mnemonic SOCRATES: Site: Where is the pain, and has it always been there? Pain that is initially poorly localized, midline, and colicky but which then migrates to the LIF and becomes constant is highly suggestive of acute diverticulitis (akin to left-sided appendicitis). Pain that migrates down the left flank and iliac fossa is more consistent with the migration of a ureteric stone. Onset: Gradual or sudden? Sudden onset of pain is suggestive of perforation of a viscus, or of acute haemorrhage (e.g. into an ovarian cyst or from a ruptured AAA) or torsion (of an ovary or testis). Character: Is the pain colicky or constant? Is it sharp or dull? Acute diverticulitis is often preceded by colicky midline pain. Ureteric calculi may result in colicky pain. Established diverticulitis, and the other differential diagnoses from our list would all produce constant abdominal pain. Sharp pain is most suggestive of haemorrhage, perforation, or torsion. Radiation: Does the pain radiate to the groin (typical of ureteric pain)? Alleviating factors: Does anything make the pain better? Discomfort due to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may be relieved by defecation.