Disclosure Procedures Research Articles

Table of Contents

Abstract Cover Story Alumni input helps to shape new alumni center New alumni center shaped by input from hundreds of alumni Seek input, avoid reinventing the wheel when building new alumni center Bright Idea WVU grad, son of original donor, becomes campaign's honorary chair Foundations Though progress is being made, diversity lacking in foundations Leaders & Innovators KYLE EDGINGTON, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS' SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT Focus on developing genuine relationships, advocating for donors Helpful Hints Use these 5 tips to become a better fundraiser Giving Direct‐mail appeals no longer getting good donor response rate Internet most popular way for major donors to engage with nonprofits Did You Know? Why the decline in donors? Word of Advice Know the 3 giving types Of Counsel Form 990‐T public disclosure procedures set Fundraising Ethics in fundraising remains a major issue for development field Managing Your Office Keep future leaders in the pipeline with mentoring program Create a successful mentoring program Use generational differences to energize succession planning Follow these steps to create an effective succession plan Executive Briefing Claremont McKenna gets $75M donation Gift to OU turns out bigger than expected Area attorney contributes to law center Estate gift to provide scholarship funds Sisters contribute to religious school NAMES IN THE NEWS 3 named to top university development posts

A Case Study of the Impact of Statistical Disclosure Control on Data Quality in the Individual UK Samples of Anonymised Records

Microdata released for public use, such as the Samples of Anonymised Records, Labour Force Survey data, and longitudinal data, such as the Millennium Cohort Study, are subject to statistical disclosure procedures. These measures include data swapping, recoding, postrandomisation, and suppression. Considerable research has been conducted into the extent to which such measures protect respondent anonymity. However, the impact the measures have on the utility of the data is a neglected area of research. In this case study we examine the impact of standard statistical disclosure control measures on the utility of a sample census microdata set. We consulted data users about the impact of the variable recoding on the usefulness of the data and repeated published analyses on a file that had been subjected to perturbative disclosure control measures. It was found that disclosure control measures had a significant impact on the usability of the data (analytical completeness) and on the accuracy of the data in relation to the findings reached when the data were used in analyses (analytical validity). The findings should be of interest to those involved in statistical disclosure control and to data users themselves. Although further research is required in this area, we conclude that data quality assessment should be a central part of disclosure control practice and that universal standards for the relationship between disclosure control and data utility should be developed.

Basel’s value-at-risk capital requirement regulation: An efficiency analysis

We analyze the optimal portfolio policies of expected utility maximizing agents under VaR Capital Requirement (VaR-CR) regulation in comparison to the optimal policy under exogenously-imposed VaR Limit (VaR-L) and Limited-Expected-Loss (LEL) regulations. With VaR-CR regulation the agent strategy consists of simultaneous decisions on both the portfolio VaR and on the implied amount of required eligible capital. As a result, the performance of VaR-CR regulation depends on its design (the parameter n) and the agent preferences. We show that an optimal VaR-CR regulation allows the regulator on the one hand, to completely eliminate the exposure to the largest losses, which may jeopardize the existence of the institution, and on the other hand, to restrain the portfolio exposure to all other losses. These results rationalize the current Basel regulations. However, the analysis shows also that there is an optimal level of required eligible capital from the regulator standpoint. Counter-intuitively, any requirement above this optimal level is inefficient as it leads to a smaller amount of actually maintained eligible capital and thereby to a larger exposure to the most adverse states of the world. Unfortunately, the current Basel’s range of required levels ( n = 3–4) is within this inefficient range. Moreover, with an inefficient regulation the agent might employ an inefficient reporting and disclosure procedure.

A comparison of writing exercises to motivate young women to practise breast self‐examinations

This study investigated the novel use of written emotional disclosure procedures for motivating health behavior change, specifically engagement in breast self examination (BSE) among college-aged women. Writing instructions were tailored to a precontemplative stage of change in accordance with the transtheoretical model proposed by Prochaska and DiClemente (1983) to test the hypothesis that stage-matched writing strategy would facilitate greater contemplation than a stage-mismatched writing strategy and a control condition. Precontemplative women (N=55) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) a stage-matched consciousness-raising writing exercise; (b) a stage-mismatched BSE action-oriented exercise; or (c) a control condition, and measured on contemplation, preparation, and action, as well as performance of BSEs. Analyses indicated that both the consciousness-raising writing exercise and the BSE action-oriented exercise increased participants' level of contemplation when compared to the control condition. Women assigned to the BSE action-oriented exercise endorsed more statements indicative of an action stage of change and exhibited a trend for greater performance of BSE compared to the other two conditions. The application of writing exercises and the relevance of stage-matching is discussed in the context of the stage of change model.

Twin Tracks—Employee Representation at Eurotunnel Revisited

The introduction of the European Directive on Information and Consultation and the recent implementation of the Information and Consultation of Employees (ICE) Regulations into United Kingdom (UK) law have increased the focus on workplace representation arrangements. This paper examines the interplay between nonunion and union representative arrangements at Eurotunnel (UK) and assesses their effectiveness in representing the needs of employees over a 5‐year period. Importantly, the paper also examines the opportunities and challenges of both nonunion representation (NER) and union voice arrangements. The findings show that the effectiveness of nonunion structures as bodies representing the interests of employees in filling the lack of representation is questionable. However, union recognition through an employer–union partnership agreement has also raised important issues regarding the effectiveness, impact, and legitimacy of unions at Eurotunnel. The main implication of this research is that the existence of a mechanism—union or nonunion—for communication between management and employees at the workplace may not be a sufficient condition for effective representation of employee interests. In addition, while trade unions may provide greater voice than nonunion arrangements (thus the reluctance of management to accept such voice arrangements), the strength of voice is dependent on the legitimacy and effectiveness of trade unions in representing employees’ interests at the workplace. And that in turn depends on the union being perceived by the workforce as both representative and able to act independently. If the union cannot, it will not meet the needs of either employees or management—and could run the risk of being supplanted under the provisions of the new EU Directive on Information and Consultation with tougher requirements for compliance in terms of procedures for consultation and information disclosure.

Exposure Through Written Emotional Disclosure: Two Case Examples

Written disclosure is a procedure in which individuals repeatedly write about the most traumatic experience of their lives with as much emotion as possible. Research has demonstrated that, relative to a control writing condition, written disclosure is associated with improvements in physical and psychological functioning. As a result of these findings, there has been suggestion that written disclosure may be used as a primary intervention for psychological distress. In this paper, two case studies are presented in which written disclosure was used as an intervention for trauma-related psychopathology. The written disclosure procedure resulted in significant symptom improvements for one individual but not for the other. Differences between the two cases are highlighted and the strengths and weaknesses of the written disclosure procedure as a stand-alone intervention are considered.

How the structure of contribution disclosure statements affects validity of authorship: a randomized study in a general medical journal

ABSTRACTObjective: Many biomedical journals have introduced disclosure of research contribution in journal articles as a way to limit irresponsible authorship. Over the years, journals have developed different contribution disclosure policies and procedures, but it is not known how these policies and procedures affect authorship. The aim of our study was to analyse possible causative relationships between the structure of the contribution disclosure form and the number of authors who do not meet authorship criteria in biomedicine set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).Research design and methods: In a single-blind randomized trial, 1462 authors of 332 manuscripts submitted to a general medical journal answered one of three different contribution disclosure forms: (1) open-ended – asking the respondents to describe in their own words their contributions in the submitted work; (2) categorical – with 11 possible contribution choices and (3) instructional – guiding through the ICMJE definition and instructing how many contributions are needed to satisfy individual criteria.Main outcome measure: The number of authors not satisfying ICMJE authorship criteria.Results: The group answering the instructional form had significantly fewer authors whose reported contributions did not satisfy ICMJE criteria (18.7%) than the groups answering the categorical (62.8%) or open-ended (54.7%) form ( χ22 = 210.833, p < 0.001). The group receiving instructional forms also had the fewest articles with honorary authors (32.5%) compared with those who responded in a categorical (68.7%) or open-ended (83.0%) form ( χ22= 63.378, p < 0.001). All authors who answered the open-ended form, regardless of their compliance with authorship criteria, reported significantly fewer contributions (median 3 [95% confidence interval = 3–3]) than authors responding to either the categorical (4 [4–4]; z score = –7.1899, p < 0.001) or instructional form (4 [4–5]; z score = –13.9760, p < 0.001). Honorary authors answering the instructional form reported more contributions than those answering either the categorical or open-ended form (z score = 2.7637, p = 0.0057 and z score = 3.3773, p < 0.001, respectively). Most honorary authors (39.9%) lacked only the third ICMJE criterion (final approval of the submitted manuscript).Conclusions: The structure of the contribution disclosure form significantly influenced the number of contributions reported by authors of submitted manuscripts and their compliance with the ICMJE authorship criteria. Journal editors should be aware of the cognitive aspects of survey methodology when they construct for their authors self-reports about behaviour, such as contribution disclosure forms.

Management of Conflict of Interest Issues in the Activities of the American Heart Association Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee, 2000–2005

In 2000 the American Heart Association (AHA), in conjunction with the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR), sponsored the International Guidelines 2000 Conference on CPR and ECC. This conference led to the publication of the first international guidelines on CPR and ECC, Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care: An International Consensus on Science .1 The conflict of interest (COI) policies governing the 2000 evidence discovery and consensus development process were consistent with the general COI policies in effect in the AHA at that time. Although these policies addressed disclosure and abstention from voting during subcommittee deliberations, they were, in retrospect, not sufficiently detailed to address the unique circumstances of a worldwide scientific review and consensus development process. In addition, they did not provide specific guidance for management of conflicts that arose among science reviewers, panelists, guidelines authors, and others involved in the complex guideline development process. After publication of the ECC Guidelines 2000 , the AHA was criticized for its management of potential conflicts among participants,2 particularly those participants who received industry support for research or consultation. An intense debate took place in the literature, news sections of scientific journals, and Internet chatrooms. The AHA contended that the rigor of the …

Further Examination of the Exposure Model Underlying the Efficacy of Written Emotional Disclosure.

In the current study, the authors examined the effects of systematically varying the writing instructions for the written emotional disclosure procedure. College undergraduates with a trauma history and at least moderate posttraumatic stress symptoms were asked to write about (a) the same traumatic experience, (b) different traumatic experiences, or (c) nontraumatic everyday events across 3 written disclosure sessions. Results show that participants who wrote about the same traumatic experience reported significant reductions in psychological and physical symptoms at follow-up assessments compared with other participants. These findings suggest that written emotional disclosure may be most effective when individuals are instructed to write about the same traumatic or stressful event at each writing session, a finding consistent with exposure-based treatments.

Basel's Value-at-Risk Capital Requirement Regulation: An Efficiency Analysis

We analyze the optimal portfolio policies of expected utility maximizing agents under VaR Capital Requirement (VaR-CR) regulation in comparison to the optimal policy under exogenously-imposed VaR Limit (VaR-L) and Limited-Expected-Loss (LEL) regulations. With VaR-CR regulation the agent strategy consists of simultaneous decisions on both the portfolio VaR and on the implied amount of required eligible capital. As a result, the performance of VaR-CR regulation depends on its design (the parameter n) and the agent preferences. We show that an optimal VaR-CR regulation allows the regulator on the one hand, to completely eliminate the exposure to the largest losses, which may jeopardize the existence of the institution, and on the other hand, to restrain the portfolio exposure to all other losses. These results rationalize the current Basel regulations. However, the analysis shows also that there is an optimal level of required eligible capital from the regulator standpoint. Counter-intuitively, any requirement above this optimal level is inefficient as it leads to a smaller amount of actually maintained eligible capital and thereby to a larger exposure to the most adverse states of the word. Unfortunately, the current Basel's range of required levels (n = 3 -4) is within this inefficient range. Moreover, with an inefficient regulation the agent might employ an inefficient reporting and disclosure procedure.

On visible choice sets and scope sensitivity

In this paper we argue that the burgeoning empirical debate over scope sensitivity within contingent valuation studies is fundamentally incomplete in that it has neglected a systematic examination of certain effects of study design upon observed scope sensitivity. In particular we highlight the fact that in certain study designs the choice set initially offered (or “visible”) to respondents is changed in a stepwise manner as they progress through a valuation exercise, while other designs involve advance disclosure regarding the full extent of the final visible choice set prior to any choices or values being elicited. The issue of changes in the visible choice set is alluded to by Smith (J. Environ. Econom. Manage. 22(1) 71), who identifies this as a primary challenge to Kahneman and Knetsch's (J. Environ. Econom. Manage. 22(1) 57), well-known experimental results. Kahneman and Knetsch contend that it seems “highly implausible that this minor procedural change would significantly alter results” (p. 61), but do not test this assertion. We present experimental and field tests of the impact upon contingent values of varying the visible choice set through stepwise and advance disclosure. These dimensions of design are interacted with changes in the order in which nested goods are presented (bottom-up versus top-down). When a stepwise disclosure procedure is adopted, the observed scope sensitivity is substantially and significantly affected by the order in which goods are presented but such procedural variance is not observed within advance disclosure designs. Conjectures regarding the origin and implications of such findings are presented.

Advocacy: The Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center

After the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Lexington, Kentucky, lost two major malpractice cases in the mid-1980s, leaders started taking a more proactive approach to identifying and investigating incidents that could result in litigation. An informal risk management team met regularly to discuss litigation-prone incidents. During one in-depth review, the team learned that a medication error had caused the patient's death. Although the family would probably never have found out, the team decided to honestly inform the family of exactly what had happened and assist in filing for any financial settlement that might be appropriate. This decision evolved into an organization wide full disclosure policy and procedure. The Lexington VAMC's policy on full disclosure includes informing patients and/or their families of adverse events known to have caused harm or injury to the patient as a result of medical error or negligence. The disclosure includes discussions of liability and also includes apology and discussion of remedy and compensation. Full disclosure is the right thing to do and the moral and ethical thing to do. Moreover, doing the right thing actually seems to have mitigated the financial repercussions of inevitable adverse events that result in injury to patients. As reported in 1999, Lexington VAMC was in the top quarter of medical centers for number of tort claims filed but was in the lowest quarter for malpractice payouts resulting from these torts.

The Inevitability of Enron and the Impossibility of 'Auditor Independence' Under the Current Audit System

The most surprising thing about the spectacular collapse of Enron may be that this kind of colossal public audit failure did not happen sooner. The kind of ploys that Enron executives seem to have been involved in are not new: indeed, versions of them formed part of the original impetus for the U.S. securities laws. The public company disclosure and audit procedures created by the securities laws established a watchdog in the form of accounting firms to certify the books and financial statements of public companies to curb just these kinds of abuses. Accordingly, the accounting firms are supposed to be independent of the audit client and act on behalf of shareholders and the public, not the audit client's management. The problem is that, however well this system worked at its inception, it is fundamentally flawed now such that as a practical matter it is impossible for auditors to be independent of their audit clients. The current audit system sets up a fundamental tension for the auditor because the parties to whom he technically owes allegiance are not the party who hires him and pays for his services. Accordingly, auditors' objectivity and independence are potentially compromised simply by accepting the audit engagement: accountants, like other service providers, rely on repeat business from their customers and they may well consider the prospects of being retained for next year's audit even as they perform this year's audit. The provision of non-audit services by auditors to their audit clients has exacerbated this fundamental tension, but I argue that a changing business environment and culture for accountants - based on the commodification of professional services generally - has taken what may have been a manageable problem and rendered it unworkable as a practical matter. Thus, even a full prohibition on non-audit services will not remedy the current issues underlying the debate over auditor This paper is primarily intended to be a resource for those interested in auditor independence issues by analyzing the development of the accounting and audit profession, the background of the Securities Laws, the current state of private and public regulation of accountants who provide statutory audits, the dramatic changes in the business environment for professional services over the past few decades, and throughout it all, the evolution of the concept of independence. Its secondary purpose is to suggest some alternative frameworks for performance and regulation of the statutory audit which map onto the important background political spectrum of ideologies ranging from a free market deregulation approach to a protective government agency regulation model.

Disclosure of tests and raw test data to the courts: a need for reform.

Psychologists' current practices with respect to the disclosure of tests and raw test data to courts are damaging their reputations as scientists, undermining their credibility as honest professionals acting in good faith, and contrary to the best interests of consumers. The profession is conducting itself in a contradictory fashion that deserves reform. There is need for an interdisciplinary panel drawn from the American Psychological Association and American Bar Association to develop reasonable procedures for disclosure of tests and test data in legal proceedings. These procedures should be developed with input from experienced psychological expert witnesses, attorneys, and judges from a variety of state and federal jurisdictions, diverse geographical areas, and different types of legal proceedings. This expert panel should also address the issue of attorney coaching of clients in preparation for assessment by psychologists.

Mentally Disabled Research Subjects

Mentally disabled adults often serve as subjects in research on mental illness, developmental disabilities, dementia, and other conditions associated with mental impairment. Since US regulatory policy fails to resolve many ethical issues presented by such research, investigators and institutional review boards must determine the appropriate standards and procedures for studies involving adults with mental disabilities. Procedures for capacity assessment and information disclosure should enhance the autonomy of capable subjects and accurately identify subjects incapable of independent choice. Research teams should inform proxy decision makers of their ethical responsibilities. Decisionally incapable adults objecting to research involvement should rarely be included in studies. Researchers, institutional review boards, advocacy groups, and federal officials should collaborate to improve evaluation of risks and potential benefits to decisionally incapable subjects. These groups should also seek consensus on appropriate risk limits in studies presenting no prospect of direct benefit to decisionally incapable subjects. Finally, subject populations should be represented in research planning and review activities.

An Anti–New Dealer Legacy: The Administrative Procedure Act

The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA) has been sorely neglected in the history of the relationship of the political actors to the administrative state. There is no full account of the history of the APA, yet there is an increasing need for such a history. There is a growing literature paying renewed attention to the importance of administrative procedures in the politics of the administrative state (McCubbins and Schwartz 1984; McCubbins, Noll, and Weingast 1987, 1989; Moe 1989; Hill and Brazier 1991; Farber 1992; Mashaw 1990; and Bawn 1995). With all this attention being given to the importance of administrative procedure, it is about time to examine the history of the act that established the minimum standards of administrative procedure. The act regulates the procedures for adjudication, access to, disclosure of, and publication of agency information, licensing, rule-making, investigations, tenure of administrative law judges, and judicial review of agency action. Standard accounts of the APA's legislative history such as Galloway's (1946) have conveyed the impression that the APA was a noncontroversial, consensual piece of legislation that provided much-needed reform of federal administrative procedures. The actual history of this act involved a prolonged battle among the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the presidency, the legislature, and interest groups for political advantage in the administrative state that had been created by the New Deal and World War II.

Disclosure Costs, Regulation, and the Expansion of the Private-Placement Market

The private-placement debt market has grown dramatically in recent years. Private placements have a “competitive advantage” over public placements in being exempt from many regulations, including disclosure procedures and auditing requirements. Here, a model is developed to explain the growth in the private-placement market. Corporate borrowers choose between public and private placement of debt so as to minimize borrowing costs. Borrowers in the public-placement market incur higher regulatory cost, but are also able to signal accurately their true risk of default. In private placements, there is an asymmetric information problem. This results in an equilibrium where the debt market gets partitioned between private and public placements. It is shown that raising regulatory costs will lead to an expansion of the market share of private placements. It will also lead to an increase in the overall default rate on corporate debt.

Disclosing the cancer diagnosis. Procedures that influence patient hopefulness

Physicians view enhancing patient hopefulness as a critical aspect of cancer treatment, yet little is known about how the circumstances of the initial disclosure of a cancer diagnosis affects this important psychosocial variable. The authors examined the extent to which various forms of physician disclosure of a cancer diagnosis are seen by patients as more or less hopeful and as favorable or unfavorable. Statements describing various circumstances of diagnostic disclosure were generated from interviews with 10 physicians and 10 patients with cancer. Fifty-seven statements were rated on two bipolar rating scales describing hopefulness and favorability by an additional 56 patients with recent onset of cancer. To determine if overall emotional adjustment to the illness affected these ratings, scores on the Mental Adjustment Scale were also obtained. Results revealed that patients had clear ideas about which procedures were most and least hopeful and favorable or unfavorable, that the ratings demonstrated clear factorial validity suggesting broad areas of diagnostic disclosure procedure where physicians may make efforts to enhance hope, and that ratings of hopefulness and favorability were related to overall emotional adjustment to the illness. There was consensus among patients that certain procedures enhanced hopefulness and certain procedures reduced it. Physicians would do well to attend carefully to this aspect of treatment and continually seek patient input concerning their preferences for the conduct of the treatment relationship.

Developing an institutional policy on conflict of interest in CME activities

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has adopted a new guideline concerning commercial support of CME activities that states: “An accredited sponsor shall have a policy on conflict of interest applicable to CME activities.” This guideline is the result of several federal investigations of health care professionals with financial ties to a commercial company who perform research and make educational presentations related to the company's products. The AMA and the AAMC have recently developed guidelines for conflicts of interest involving research that use full disclosure of relationships as the primary remedy. When full disclosure is applied to CME activities, a speaker discloses conflicting or potentially conflicting interests to participants at the CME activity, allowing the participants to evaluate and adjust for the possible influence of the disclosed interest. The general principle of full disclosure is clear, but detailed definitions are needed to identify situations constituting conflict of interest, the procedures for disclosure, and possible responses to failure to disclose. An initial draft of a policy on conflict of interest is presented with a discussion of operational issues and some options for implementing the policy. Some generally recognized standards need to be developed and publicized so that institutions can determine whether a particular policy would be overly restrictive or inadequate. The organizations most likely to develop nationally recognized standards are the AMA or the AAMC. Whatever the guidelines, the implementation of routine procedures for disclosing conflicts of interest will increase the work associated with producing certified CME activities.

Regulation management and logic programming

AbstractRegulations are pervasive in information systems. They manifest themselves as design rules, integrity constraints, deadlines, conventions, information disclosure requirements, policies, procedures, contracts, taxes, quotas and other statutes. Managing regulations is difficult. Regulations are complex, change frequently and rest on models of the real world that involve unusual vocabulary if not unusual concepts. Consequently, checking compliance with regulations is tedious and error‐prone.Logic programming appears to provide a good framework for developing regulation management systems. Besides permitting arbitrary regulations to be modelled, it offers rapidity and ease of development, readability, incremental modifiability, extensibility and portability. These features are not provided by existing DP programming tools, database managers or conventional expert‐system shells.This paper investigates the application of logic programming in a significant regulation management application: Workers' Compensation Insurance premium auditing. The insurance premium computation rules for the State of California were encoded as a large Prolog program. This application illustrates specific strengths and weaknesses of logic programming and Prolog in dealing with large‐scale real‐world regulations.