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Summary This is an attempt to write an introduction to some aspects of the present state of the Neyman‐Pearson theory. The object is to interest the reader who has some knowledge of modem probability theory and statistics. We try to emphasize the main ideas, "unnecessary" mathematics is avoided.In our opinion, the Neyman‐Pearson theory (or, more generally, the objectivistic approach to statistics) is a vigorous attempt to statisfy some weakened form of the philosophical principle of the "intersubjective verifiability". This attempt is considered successful in those situations where "various different objectivistic optimum properties are satisfied by the same optimal test". Unfortunately, these conditions are not satisfied for many situations from actual practice (testing against restricted alternatives, non‐parametric problems). Thus we arrive at a dilemma: for many problems from practice different "optimum" tests are available. There is no easy way out of this dillemma (see the last section).We have tried to emphasize the motivation and to aim at readability while minimizing the overlap with e.g. Lehmann's basic textbook. Thus many basic tools are disregarded: exponential families, completeness and sufficiency of statistics and many other subjects are missing, the restrictions by similarity, unbiasedness or invariance are only mentioned. The references constitute an incomplete apology for deleting so many important contributions.

This article critically examines the psychological and policy implications of the belief that characteristics of social groups are grounded in biology and thus are unchangeable. We specifically focus on how this immutability mind‐set may perpetuate group‐based educational achievement gaps and deter treatment seeking for mental/behavioral health conditions. We then consider the prospect of plasticity: the notion that psychological attributes, although rooted in our biological endowment, are inherently malleable. Our discussion reviews the evidence for—and social implications of—this alternative mind‐set for intellectual achievement as well as mental/behavioral health. We conclude by describing several concrete policy applications of a plasticity perspective.

Cook analyzes the relationship between Supreme Court decisions and public opinion concerning First Amendment religious liberties. Overall, the Court has issued opinions consistent with public opinion in a majority of its decisions dealing with the First Amendment's religion clauses, with a level of congruence of almost seventy percent when a clear public opinion expression is present. She also provides a new perspective for understanding the long and contentious debate about prayer in public school by identifying an area of agreement between the Court and public opinion that has not received m

Although we live in an era in which government and private organisations collect large amounts of data, this has not filtered through to anti-discrimination and equality law in Australia. Government and its agencies have little incentive to collect information, nor does business. Neither group bears any obligation to tackle discrimination if they detect it. Yet the self-regulating enforcement model used in equality law is premised on the idea that information will be available to aid voluntary compliance. This article examines the nature of the data organisations that are currently required to collect and identify significant information gaps. It argues that it is not enough to simply fill those gaps with information; increased data collection needs to be accompanied by the obligation to address inequality if that is what the data reveals.

AbstractOften within frameworks of inclusive education policy and legislation, many countries continue to provide both special and regular schools as options for students with disability. One persistent explanation for the maintenance of dual systems is the school choice that it offers parents. Enrolment decisions can be ongoing, and parents may have to, or decide to, reassess their schooling choice. One example of this scenario is the decision to transfer from a regular to a special school. The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the decision‐making process of parents who transferred their child from regular to special school. Eighty parents from Queensland, Australia, completed a survey which collected information about their decision‐making in this regard. A factor analysis was undertaken with survey items relating to (1) reasons for leaving regular school, (2) hopes for special school, and (3) the decision‐making process. Clear factors emerged as underlying dimensions in parental decision‐making, including those relating to (1) learning, (2) emotional states, (3) school culture, and (4) the difficulties associated with decision‐making. Results indicate that parents' decision‐making is influenced by negative experiences in the mainstream and high expectations for segregated schooling. Emotional strain in regular schools was strongly linked to an exclusionary school culture, and there was an important association between learning and well‐being. Implications of these findings for parents, teachers, and other educators are discussed.

This paper presents the results of four lottery-type experiments that investigate the effects of incentive structures on decision-making under uncertainty. We compare choices made with and without incentives, with fixed targets, with binary targets, and with four-outcome targets that are discretized from a logistic distribution. The results of the behavioral experiments (i) validate theoretical findings of utility functions induced by fixed and uncertain targets. Further, the behavioral results show that (ii) individuals' choices are indeed affected by incentive structures, which we quantify by several deviation measures. (iii) Defined consistency measures show that choices under uncertain targets become less consistent as the number of uncertain target outcomes increases. The results of these experiments provide insights into the effects of setting incentive structures on decision-making behavior.

AbstractFocusing on one specific aspect of immigrant political integration—how authorities deal with their political right to demonstrate—we show in a large-scale survey experiment that liberal policy decisions permitting demonstrations lead to a polarization in attitudes: citizens who agree with a permission become more sympathetic, while those in favor of banning become more critical of immigrants. This notion of opinion backlash to policy decisions adds a new perspective to the literature on immigration attitudes which has either assumed a congruence between public opinion and policy or ignored political sources of anti-immigrant sentiment altogether. By exploring the unintended consequences of policy decisions, we provide an alternative view and demonstrate the inherent dilemma of balancing citizen opinion and minority rights.

We summarize the potential impact that the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation will have on the routine use of machine learning algorithms. Slated to take effect as law across the EU in 2018, it will place restrictions on automated individual decision-making (that is, algorithms that make decisions based on user-level predictors) which ''significantly affect'' users. When put into practice, the law may also effectively create a ''right to explanation,'' whereby a user can ask for an explanation of an algorithmic decision that significantly affects them. We argue that while this law may pose large challenges for industry, it highlights opportunities for computer scientists to take the lead in designing algorithms and evaluation frameworks which avoid discrimination and enable explanation.

The Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) Regulation has conferred prudential tasks to the European Central Bank (ECB) which it shall carry out within a SSM composed of the ECB and national competent authorities (NCAs). This article assesses the legal feasibility to attach conditions and obligations in ECB supervisory decisions. It looks at other areas of EU administrative law (merger control and State aid law), assesses the ECJ Atradius (C-18/14) judgment in the area of insurance supervision and argues that conditions and/or obligations are ancillary provisions that can be included in ECB supervisory decisions as a matter of EU law. The article evaluates also the impact of the inclusion of conditions and/or obligations on the right to be heard under art.22 SSM Regulation. While conditions and obligations may have adverse effects, the article examines to what extent the right to be heard applies in cases the ECB includes conditions and/or obligations in ECB supervisory decisions.

This article reports on a single-case study of a decision-making process in child welfare. Based on analysis of field notes, research interviews with caseworkers and case documents, the study explored caseworkers' handling of ambiguity and uncertainty in a case of possible neglect on the tipping point between home-based and out-of-home care. The prospective study followed events and activities in the case of a family consisting of a mother, a father and newborn twins, reflecting real process in real time. Data were gathered in a local frontline child welfare office in a Norwegian town, and decision-making was studied as a process of sequential colligation rather than as a linear and cumulative effort. The findings suggest that the caseworkers' individual commitment to and felt responsibility for the outcome led to a quest for documentation, making the process of decision-making more challenging. The search for decisive evidence may contribute to prolonged casework and postponed closure in cases on the tipping point.

Philosophy typically ignores biographical, historical, and cultural aspects of theoriss lives in an attempt to take a supposedly abstract and objective view of their work. This book makes some new conclusions about Arendts theory by emphasizing how her experience of the world as displayed in her archival materials impacted her thought. Some aspects of Arendts life have been examined in detail before, including the fact she was stateless as well as her affair with Heidegger. Instead, this work explores different topics including the biographical and narrative moments of Arendt's own work, the role of archiving in her thought, pivotal events that have not been archived, her understanding of her own identities, and how it affected the role of identity politics in her work. Typically, group action is underemphasized in Arendt scholarship in comparison to individual action and often identity politics questions are considered to lie within the realm of the private. Although Arendts theory is problematic when discussing issues concerning identity politics, she did think identity politics could be public and political and that effective political actions may occur within groups. What makes this project unique are the innovative conclusions made by moving the archival and biographical evidence to the center in order to understand her theory more accurately and within its historical and cultural context. This volume will be of interest to professional scholars in Arendts work, but also to those who have a more general interest in her life and theory.