The problems of judicial expertise in criminal proceedings Abstract Contemporary criminal proceedings are highly dependable on judicial expertise and in number of cases we encounter a situation where the determination of the facts is based on the expert evidence. However, judicial expertise is linked to a number of issues which damage the reputation of the field which is then considered to be untrustworthy by the general public. This paper is divided into 5 separate chapters dissecting the most commonly criticised practices by the general public. At first the issue of relegating responsibilities from the judge to the judicial experts is analysed. The author believes that there are two root causes to the problem, one being the factual accuracy of the provided expert evidence and the other being the unnecessary utilization of judicial experts. The aforementioned relegation of responsibilities places power in the hands of the experts whose work seldom meet the appropriate quality given the increased level of responsibility. Therefore the author further focuses on the problems with the quality of the expert evidence as well as examining the warranties provided by the current legislation and the shortcomings of this legislation along with the changes of it that are coming into effect as of 1 January 2021. The...

This study addresses the question of whether or not pre-service teachers are ready and prepared to use and teach the highly-specialized language of each discipline. The disciplinary languages present teaching and learning challenges due to their lack of parallels in the daily language (Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Additionally, the languages of the disciplines are rarely taught and are commonly acquired through an isolated representation of words without a situated meaning within the theory (Gee, 2002). The knowledge of the particular ways of reading, writing, listening to, and talking in the content areas provides opportunities for students’ apprenticeship within the disciplines required for success in higher education contexts (Dobbs, Ippolito, and Charner, 2017). Moreover, this study addresses the question of how future teachers develop disciplinary knowledge and skills. The purpose of this case study was to investigate how mathematical literacy is shaped and defined by the experiences, language, and disciplinary practices of pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics. This overall aim was unfolded by three guiding research questions: 1) What do the Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers and Experts in Mathematics Reveal about their Understanding of Mathematical Literacy? 2) RQ 2. How do pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics use language when solving mathematical problems? and 3) What literacy practices do pre-service teachers and experts in mathematics utilize when presented with modules that require mathematics problem-solving? To structure the elements of analysis for the participants’ responses, I adopted the theoretical support from the emerging disciplinary literacy framework, the novice-expert paradigm, and the tenets of M. K. Halliday’s functional linguistic theory (i.e., Systemic Functional Linguistics; [SFL]). Four faculty in the Department of Mathematics and four pre-service teachers in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at a large Midwest university agreed to participate in this case study. For the data collection, I asked the participants to participate in two sessions. In the first sessions, the participants responded to a semi-structured interview. Afterward, in a second session, the participants solved modules of mathematical problems following three protocols: a think-aloud, a silent-solving, and an oral-explanatory. The results of the participants’ responses to the semi-structured interview and the three protocols indicated that their experiences as learners and teachers of mathematics are tied to their definitions of literacy and disciplinary literacy. The SFL analysis showed that for the experts of mathematics, mathematical problem-solving is a more abstract and cognitive practice. The pre-service teachers’ registers indicated that mathematical problem-solving is experienced as more concrete and real practice. The unique literacy practices that these participants displayed showed the strong connection between language, literacy, and mathematical thought.The implications of this study are discussed in terms of the importance of language and disciplinary literacy in preparation for future teachers as they progress in their course of study within their teaching education programs.

This study examines the association between the extent of legal intensity in firms’ financial reports and their financial reporting quality. Firms’ financial reports contain embedded legal content arising from contracts and agreements underlying their operations. Accountants interpret the contract provisions and conditions to determine the timing and amounts recognized in financial reports. Legal content is technical and complex, creating a potential for misinterpretation and errors in accounting for transactions, thus adversely affecting financial reporting quality. Using legal tags in companies’ 10-K XBRL filings, I construct a measure of the legal intensity of financial reports. I document an inverse association between legal intensity of financial reports and financial reporting quality, proxied by accruals quality, analyst earnings forecast errors and dispersion, earnings informativeness, and accruals informativeness. The inverse association is driven by firm-specific legal content rather than common legal content. There is also some evidence that the inverse association is strengthened by high operational uncertainty and attenuated by accounting experts on the audit committee. Collectively, this study increases our understanding of challenges in translating legal content into financial reports and the benefit of audit committee accounting experts in this setting. / Business Administration/Accounting

There is growing interest in alignment between state's standards and test content partly due to accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Among other problems, current alignment methods almost entirely rely on subjective judgment to assess curriculum-assessment alignment. In addition none of the current alignment models accounts for student actual performance on the assessment and there are no consistent criteria for assessing alignment across the various models. Due to these problems, alignment results employing different models cannot be compared. This study applied item mapping to student response data for the Massachusetts Adult Proficiency Test (MAPT) for Math and Reading to assess alignment. Item response theory (IRT) was used to locate items on a proficiency scale and then two criterion response probability (RP) values were applied to the items to map each item to a proficiency category. Item mapping results were compared to item writers' classification of the items. Chi-square tests, correlations, and logistic regression were used to assess the degree of agreement between the two sets of data. Seven teachers were convened for a one day meeting to review items that do not map to intended grade level to explain the misalignment. Results show that in general, there was higher agreement between SMEs classification and item mapping results at RP50 than RP67. Higher agreement was also observed for items assessing lower level cognitive abilities. Item difficulty, cognitive demand, clarity of the item, level of vocabulary of item compared to reading level of examinees and mathematical concept being assessed were some of the suggested reasons for misalignment.

Au fil des générations, l'évaluation de programme a traversé de nombreux changements (nécessaires), qui l'ont conduite à devenir une activité à la fois technique et sociopolitique. Aujourd'hui, elle est d'une indéniable complexité du fait notamment de la nature des situations évaluatives rencontrées, dont les caractéristiques influencent la faisabilité, la fiabilité et l'utilité de l'évaluation. Des situations animées de contraintes sociopolitiques et organisationnelles importantes, de problèmes sur le plan des intrants disponibles, de l'accessibilité des données, etc. En outre, la qualité de l'évaluation est tributaire de la capacité de l'évaluateur à mobiliser des savoirs pratiques en situation, son expertise, et son jugement afin d'entreprendre les choix méthodologiques les plus appropriés. Inscrite dans une perspective interprétative, cette étude explore et tente de comparer les choix méthodologiques opérés par des évaluateurs novices et experts œuvrant dans des cabinets de conseil (n=8) lors de la réalisation de leurs évaluations de programme ; et la façon dont ils appréhendent et gèrent les contraintes situationnelles. Elle mobilise deux types d'activités reconnues pour l'analyse des pratiques professionnelles des évaluateurs de programmes : 1. la métaévaluation d'un projet tierce rapportée durant un entretien non dirigé ; et 2. l'entretien d'explicitation centré sur un projet d'évaluation passé avec, en amont, l'analyse des devis évaluatifs faisant l'objet de l'exercice d'explicitation. À partir de ces deux types d'activités, il devient possible d'examiner et croiser les bonnes pratiques et les pratiques réelles des participants. Les résultats s'inscrivent dans le contexte de l'évaluation externe de programmes publics fédéraux sous la direction d'un chef d'évaluation interne responsable de la planification initiale et la suppression de l'évaluation, et la consultation d'un comité interne composé d'utilisateurs ciblés. Au sein des équipes évaluatives externes, on observe une certaine hiérarchie dans l'organisation du travail. L'évaluateur expert est le gestionnaire de l'évaluation et il est chargé d'activités cruciales comme la conception et la communication de l'évaluation. L'évaluateur novice peut exercer dans une capacité d'exécutant/exécutant avancé de tâches de collecte et d'analyse de données (travail en silo), ou de collaborateur et participer à l'évaluation dès sa conception. Ultimement, les choix méthodologiques sont du ressort de l'évaluateur expert. Les pratiques réelles des évaluateurs novices sont ancrées dans le développement de leurs compétences méthodologiques et de leurs capacités analytiques, ce qui transparaît sur le plan de leurs bonnes pratiques. L'articulation de leurs pratiques se centre sur une logique technique/méthodologique de production de connaissances quant aux objets évalués. Pour eux, il est essentiel de démontrer le caractère approprié de la démarche d'évaluation, l'effort de rigueur, la fiabilité et la représentativité de la méthodologie évaluative (c.-à-d. l'alignement du contenu du cadre d'évaluation, le caractère systématique des procédures, la représentativité des sources d'information, la transparence du raisonnement évaluatif, etc.). Si dans le cadre de l'analyse critique d'un devis tierce, les évaluateurs novices reconnaissent l'influence de différents facteurs contextuels sur l'évaluation, leur analyse demeure superficielle et décontextualisée comparativement aux évaluateurs experts. En effet, les pratiques réelles tout comme les pratiques recommandées des évaluateurs experts sont influencées par la situation évaluative réelle et centrée sur les résultats. La priorité, pour eux, est de veiller au caractère approprié et faisable du devis d'évaluation à la lumière des caractéristiques de l'objet évalué ou evaluand (complexité de la théorie de programme, envergure des objectifs, caractère facilement observable de ses résultats ou non, etc.), des exigences politico-organisationnelles (la Politique évaluative fédérale, ses directives méthodologiques et ses normes, la collaboration avec le chef de l'évaluation interne, etc.), et des ressources disponibles (temps, argent, données probantes existantes et accessibles, etc.). Et ce, tout en assurant la fiabilité, la représentativité et l'utilité de l'évaluation. Il s'agit d'un raisonnement que les évaluateurs novices semblent commencer à s'approprier dès lors qu'ils ont l'occasion de participer à l'évaluation dès la phase de conception. Les résultats montrent que la pertinence du devis d'évaluation repose sur la capacité des évaluateurs à réaliser un diagnostic efficace de la situation évaluative rencontrée afin de revoir et opérationnaliser les paramètres de l'évaluation initialement prescrits par les clients, et de s'assurer de la faisabilité et de la légitimité de l'évaluation. Cette entreprise nécessite la mobilisation de savoirs méthodologiques procéduraux et expérientiels, de connaissances spécifiques à l'environnement professionnel (programmes publics, système politico-organisationnel du gouvernement fédéral, politique évaluative, gouvernance de l'évaluation externe de programmes publics, etc.), de savoir-faire relationnels, et de savoir-faire cognitifs acquis dans et par l'expérience (indispensables à l'analyse de la situation et à la résolution de problèmes, à la conception et à la réalisation de l'évaluation). Les résultats soulignent ici l'incidence du niveau d'expertise de l'évaluateur de programme externe sur sa capacité à anticiper, identifier, comprendre et gérer efficacement les contraintes situationnelles afin de concevoir une évaluation fiable et utile. Ils montrent l'importance d'offrir le plus tôt possible aux évaluateurs novices l'occasion de participer à des projets d'évaluation du début à la fin, d'accroître les occasions d'observation et de contribution sur le plan de la conception et de la gestion de l'évaluation dans le cadre de petits projets où le devis est plutôt simple. Des tâches cruciales qui, dans le présent contexte de pratique, sont réalisées par les évaluateurs experts.

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During an audit, if an audit team does not have sufficient knowledge when auditing a complex issue they often call upon subject matter experts to provide advice. While these experts are the knowledge experts in their area, the quality of the advice depends upon their ability to fully understand and incorporate client specific facts. PCAOB inspection reports suggest that audit teams are neglecting to perform the required work to assess the quality of experts' recommendations. Additionally, the decision to use subject matter experts can be made during planning or when a complex issue surfaces during the audit. As such, auditors may or may not be a priori aware that an expert's use is planned before auditing a complex issue. In this dissertation, I examine how receiving advice of different levels of quality in terms of whether it incorporated all relevant client facts (lower or higher), and a priori awareness of the use of a subject matter expert (aware or unaware), can impact auditors' use of the advice and the resulting effort and judgment accuracy. I conducted a computerized experiment where professional auditors read a case study and made an initial judgment around a complex issue, received advice, and then made a final judgment. Based on advice-taking literature, I predict and find support that auditors who are a priori unaware of the use of a subject matter expert will employ lower effort in understanding the client facts and thus be less discerning and more accepting of the advice received. Being a priori unaware and receiving low quality advice can lead to lower judgment accuracy than receiving high quality advice with a priori unawareness. Auditors who are a priori aware are expected to, and found to employ greater effort, thus reducing the accuracy differences between receiving high and low quality advice. These findings can help improve the professions' understanding of auditors' advice taking behavior and the conditions under which expert advice is accepted without performing the required quality assessment. / Ph. D.

Le présent mémoire a pour but de présenter deux techniques permettant l'obtention d'une estimation de la distribution d'une variable aléatoire lorsque les données historiques sont inexistantes ou confidentielles. Les modèles proposés se basent sur la consultation de plusieurs spécialistes du domaine dont les avis sont combinés afin d'obtenir une estimation de la distribution inconnue. Dans les deux cas, la distribution finale est le résultat d'un processus mathématique d'évaluation des experts réalisé à l'aide de variables de calibration. Le premier modèle utilise des techniques statistiques classiques alors que le second fait appel à la règle de Bayes. Le mémoire propose également une mise en oeuvre informatique des modèles ainsi que des exemples commentés.

This thesis investigates using adaptive estimation techniques to determine unknown model parameters such as size and surface material reflectivity, while estimating position, velocity, attitude, and attitude rates of a resident space object. This work focuses on the application of these methods to the space situational awareness problem. This thesis proposes a unique method of implementing a top-level gating network in a dual-layer hierarchical mixture of experts. In addition it proposes a decaying learning parameter for use in both the single layer mixture of experts and the dual-layer hierarchical mixture of experts. Both a single layer mixture of experts and dual-layer hierarchical mixture of experts are compared to the multiple model adaptive estimation in estimating resident space object parameters such as size and reflectivity. The hierarchical mixture of experts consists of macromodes. Each macromode can estimate a different parameter in parallel. Each macromode is a single layer mixture of experts with unscented Kalman filters used as the experts. A gating network in each macromode determines a gating weight which is used as a hypothesis tester. Then the output of the macromode gating weights go to a top level gating weight to determine which macromode contains the most probable model. The measurements consist of astrometric and photometric data from non-resolved observations of the target gathered via a telescope with a charge coupled device camera. Each filter receives the same measurement sequence. The apparent magnitude measurement model consists of the Ashikhmin Shirley bidirectional reflectance distribution function. The measurements, process models, and the additional shape, mass, and inertia characteristics allow the algorithm to predict the state and select the most probable fit to the size and reflectance characteristics based on the statistics of the measurement residuals and innovation covariance. A simulation code is developed to test these adaptive estimation techniques. The feasibility of these methods will be demonstrated in this thesis.

Dans un monde économique caractérisé par la complexification des technologies associée à la mondialisation des marchés, les connaissances techniques et la capacité d’innovation sont des sources primordiales d'avantage compétitif et de différenciation. Ces enjeux sont souvent associés à une figure particulière au sein des organisations : celle de l’expert. En effet, c’est souvent sur ces acteurs que repose la responsabilité de fournir des prestations technologiques de haut niveau et d’être force de proposition pour des solutions innovantes. L'important est alors de les reconnaître et de leur offrir des conditions propices au développement de l’expertise et de l’innovation afin notamment de les retenir sur des temps longs au sein de l’entreprise. Face à ces enjeux le modèle de la double échelle s’est depuis longtemps répandu dans les entreprises technologiques et industrielles, proposant une trajectoire alternative (parcours technique) à celle du management. Néanmoins, cette solution, tout en étant un modèle de référence dans la gestion des experts, n’a pas souvent apporté la satisfaction recherchée, ni pour les personnes en charge de sa mise en place, ni pour les personnes ciblées. En partant de ce paradoxe de la double échelle et en se basant sur les résultats d'une recherche-intervention au sein d’une entreprise technologique, cette thèse a permis de proposer une nouvelle problématisation de la gestion des experts en entreprise, qui ne se limite pas à la reconnaissance des experts déjà présents, mais intègre également les enjeux d’anticipation des besoins futurs en expertise et la création des nouveaux domaines. Elle propose ainsi un cadre d’analyse qui intègre trois volets d’action : la reconnaissance des experts, le renouvellement de l’expertise et la création de nouvelles expertises. Chaque axe d’action a été instrumenté par la proposition d’un outil ou d’un dispositif gestionnaire, expérimenté et validé sur le terrain de thèse. / In a business world characterized by increasing complexity of technologies associated with the globalization of markets, technical knowledge and innovation become crucial assets and primary condition for developing competitive advantage. These issues are often associated with a particular figure within organizations: that of the expert. Indeed, these people are usually considered as a source of technological excellence and innovative solutions. It becomes thus crucial, in order to retain these key people, to value their expertise and to propose adequate conditions for the development of their knowledge and their innovation potential. As a response to this challenge, the dual ladder model was developed and has been soon recognized as a primary solution for the management of experts in the technological and industrial companies. This model proposes an alternative career path (technical ladder) to that of traditional managerial path. However, this solution, while a reference model in the management of experts, has not often brought satisfaction neither for those in charge of its implementation, nor for targeted individuals. Inspired by this paradox of the dual ladder model and building on the results of a longitudinal intervention-research, this thesis proposes a new problematization of the issue of expert’ management in organisations. We argue that not only the recognition policies for current experts should be taken into consideration, but also the issues of anticipation of future needs in expertise as well as the creation of new expertise areas. This thesis thus proposes an analytical framework that incorporates three lines of action: recognition policies for experts, strategic renewal of expertise and creation of new expertise domains. Each line is supported by the associated management tool, which was tested and validated in our fieldwork.