External Review Research Articles

Public Disclosure of Tax Strategies and Firm’s Actual Tax Policy

We use a sample of 248 tax strategies published by U.K. companies listed on the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 and FTSE 250 to examine (a) how companies present themselves—more as “responsible taxpayers” who view taxes as a meaningful contribution to society, or more as “tax planners” who view taxes primarily as a cost, and (b) whether these presentations correspond to actual tax avoidance behavior. Our results show that, on average, firms tend to portray themselves as “responsible taxpayers,” but that this portrayal is consistent with firms’ tax avoidance behavior only when firms are subject to above-average external monitoring by financial analysts. The results suggest that firms manage the content of qualitative tax disclosures to sway public opinion as long as the probability of detecting misstatements is sufficiently low. This raises doubts as to whether mandatory qualitative information provides added value for stakeholders if it is not under external review. JEL Classification: H25; H20; M40; M48

21st Century Accreditation

The ALA Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies has undergone a significant proposed revision to foreground: program learning outcomes; place more emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion; eliminate redundancy; and reflect the current institutional context of LIS education and/or the needs of the profession.
 
 The revision maintains focus on: systematic planning; program level learning outcomes and curriculum; faculty; students; and infrastructure, through the maturing lens and experiences of 21st century students, educators, employers, and schools.
 
 The revised Standards are designed to be flexible enough to support a range of program modalities (primarily in-person, hybrid, primarily online), pedagogies, concentrations, and sizes, while maintaining a professional standard and expectation of program learning outcomes relevant to an evolving and expanding range of career options and opportunities.
 
 Whether library and information studies programs exist as faculties, schools, or departments, the Standards were revised to be expansive enough to support the development, implementation, and growth of robust teaching, learning, and research environments tailored to institutional strategic directions and local realities but focused on producing quality education experiences for students through common accreditation expectations. This panel brings together program and Committee on Accreditation representatives to review the aims of the revision, the process and results of the revision consultation process focused mainly within the United States, Canada, and the UK where ALA-accreditation is recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation as the accreditor for the field of library and information studies, the experiences and expectations of external review panels during site visits, and the accreditation experiences of two representative schools.
 
 The panel will further explore the implementation of the revised standards, Committee on Accreditation expectations, supports available to programs from the Office of Accreditation, and initial and developing experiences in applying the revised standards. The panel will also invite comments, questions, and observations from attendees.

Auditing with data and analytics: External reviewers' judgments of audit quality and effort

AbstractAudit firms hesitate to take full advantage of data and analytics (D&A) audit approaches because they lack certainty about how external reviewers evaluate those approaches. We propose that external reviewers use an effort heuristic when evaluating audit quality, judging less effortful audit procedures as lower quality, which could shape how external reviewers evaluate D&A audit procedures. We conduct two experiments in which experienced external reviewers evaluate one set of audit procedures (D&A or traditional) within an engagement review, while holding constant the procedures' level of assurance. Our first experiment provides evidence that external reviewers rely on an effort heuristic when evaluating D&A audit procedures—they perceive D&A audit procedures as lower in quality than traditional audit procedures because they perceive them to be less effortful. Our second experiment confirms these results and evaluates a theory‐based intervention that reduces reviewers' reliance on the effort heuristic, causing them to judge quality similarly across D&A and traditional audit procedures.

Longitudinal Analysis of Stakeholder Attitudes Toward External Review of Sport Management Master’s Degree Programs

The trio of assessment, accreditation, and accountability is at the forefront of higher education today. National organizations serving specific disciplines often establish curricular elements, review degree programs, and provide external accountability of program quality. Sport management has had two external review options in its history, yet few studies have addressed stakeholder attitudes toward these options. Using longitudinal data, this study explored attitudes and familiarity of external review and the impact that formalized accreditation has had on sport management master’s programs. Reasons for seeking or refraining from external review remained consistent, as did familiarity with external-review standards. Results suggested a general satisfaction with the evolution from the Sport Management Program Review Council to the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA).

What’s in a shade? The market relevance of green bonds’ external reviews

With the growth of green bonds as an asset class, the certification of the actual climate footprint of projects financed with these bonds is gaining momentum among investors and policymakers. We investigate the informative content of Second Party Opinions (SPOs) issued by external reviewers who assess the quality of green bonds by collecting a global sample of over 1200 corporate green bonds and analyzing matching results for 336 of them. We show that the market assigns a premium to the green bonds with the best SPOs' valuation - namely, the “dark-” and “medium-” green bonds. However, in presence of a formal credit rating, SPO external reviews do not appear to incorporate distinctive information priced by the market. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we find that stricter green investment regulations, like the adoption of the “EU Taxonomy,” produce a “fly-to-quality” effect that widens the spread between dark and lighter green bonds' returns. Responsible investors also appear to rely on the judgement of external reviewers when a formal credit rating is absent, and they have significantly higher stakes in the greener bonds. Overall, our results indicate that SPO external reviews can reduce information asymmetry between issuers and investors absent of a credit rating, but they are not informative for rated green bonds.

Validation of a Survey to Characterize Barriers to Physical Activity After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Although 84% of patients expected to return to activity within 1 year of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR), as few as 24% will return to their preinjury level of activity. By considering a patient's perceptions of reengagement in activity after ACLR, clinicians and researchers may be better equipped to implement interventions that are patient centered. To describe the validation of the ACL Reasons survey, a tool to aid clinicians and researchers in understanding patient perceptions of barriers to physical activity (PA) engagement after ACLR. Cross-sectional study. The ACL Reasons survey was administered via Qualtrics to 78 patients 6 to 24 months after primary, unilateral ACLR. Patients were categorized as active, more challenging, or less active based on their responses to the ACL Reasons. Development of the ACL Reasons survey occurred via an iterative process of drafting and revising based on feedback from a team of external expert reviewers. Tegner activity level, Marx activity score, the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS), ACL Return to Sport after Injury score, and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia score were compared among groups using analysis-of-variance and Kruskal Wallis tests. Groups differed based on Tegner activity level (P < .001), Marx activity score (P = .01), KOOS pain score (P = .02), KOOS symptom score (P = .04), KOOS sports and recreation score (P < .001), KOOS quality of life score (P < .001), ACL Return to Sport after Injury score (P < .001), and Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia score (P < .001), with the less active group performing worse on each. Knee symptoms, fear of knee symptoms or movement, and fear of injury were the most common reasons for the change in PA engagement. These results support the validity of the ACL Reasons survey as a tool for identifying barriers to PA engagement after ACLR. This tool may help facilitate communication between patients with ACLR and their health care providers to enhance patient-centered care.

Preface

The 3rd International Conference on Materials Chemistry and Environmental Engineering (CONF-MCEE 2023) is a leading annual conference. Academics, researchers, and students from across the world are all welcomed to exchange findings and ideas to draw further inspirations in related research fields. CONF-MCEE 2023 encourages communication and collaboration, hoping to provide an international platform for its participants to present, share, and learn the latest advance and development of materials, chemistry and environmental engineering. It’s a great opportunity to deepen your understanding in the related topics.This volume contains the papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Materials Chemistry and Environmental Engineering (CONF-MCEE 2023), held during March 18-24, 2023. CONF-MCEE 2023 invited professor Ioannis Spanopoulos from University of South Florida, professor Niaz Ahmed from FAST-NUCES, Islamabad, professor Sajjad S. Mofarah from The University of New South Wales, and other professors to provide 5 keynote speeches on related topics of materials, chemistry and environmental engineering. This conference provided the participant good opportunities to exchange ideas and build networks, and it will lead to the further collaborations between both universities and other societies.Three offline workshops have been held at University of South Florida, Tohoku University, and The University of New South Wales before the conference. And an online session was held on the conference date, which is also effective and convenient for academic exchange and communication. Everyone interested in related fields are welcomed to join the online session on our YouTube channel and to give comments and raise questions to the speeches and presentations.We would like to thank the Program Committee members and external reviewers for their hard work in reviewing and selecting papers. Hopefully, all participants and other interested readers can benefit scientifically from the proceedings and find it rewarding in the process.Dr. Ioannis SpanopoulosGeneral Chair of Conference CommitteeList of Committee Members are avaliable in this pdf.

21st Century Accreditation

The ALA Standards for Accreditation of Master’s Programs in Library and Information Studies has undergone a significant proposed revision to foreground: program learning outcomes; place more emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion; eliminate redundancy; and reflect the current institutional context of LIS education and/or the needs of the profession.&#x0D; &#x0D; The revision maintains focus on: systematic planning; program level learning outcomes and curriculum; faculty; students; and infrastructure, through the maturing lens and experiences of 21st century students, educators, employers, and schools.&#x0D; &#x0D; The revised Standards are designed to be flexible enough to support a range of program modalities (primarily in-person, hybrid, primarily online), pedagogies, concentrations, and sizes, while maintaining a professional standard and expectation of program learning outcomes relevant to an evolving and expanding range of career options and opportunities.&#x0D; &#x0D; Whether library and information studies programs exist as faculties, schools, or departments, the Standards were revised to be expansive enough to support the development, implementation, and growth of robust teaching, learning, and research environments tailored to institutional strategic directions and local realities but focused on producing quality education experiences for students through common accreditation expectations. This panel brings together program and Committee on Accreditation representatives to review the aims of the revision, the process and results of the revision consultation process focused mainly within the United States, Canada, and the UK where ALA-accreditation is recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation as the accreditor for the field of library and information studies, the experiences and expectations of external review panels during site visits, and the accreditation experiences of two representative schools.&#x0D; &#x0D; The panel will further explore the implementation of the revised standards, Committee on Accreditation expectations, supports available to programs from the Office of Accreditation, and initial and developing experiences in applying the revised standards. The panel will also invite comments, questions, and observations from attendees.

PACMHCI V7, CSCW2, October 2023 Editorial

We are again thrilled to be able to present the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW) community with an issue of the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, containing very interesting and relevant scholarship from its members. This issue includes 138 papers, of which 82 were accepted from the July 2022 cycle, and 56 were accepted from the January 2023 cycle. It reflects great efforts and contributions from external reviewers, Associate Chairs and Editors, who together have conducted a rigorous review process to select contributions of the highest quality advancing the CSCW field. As Track Chairs, we are grateful for the community's collective efforts to continue shaping and sharing CSCW's tradition of high-quality scholarship across the years.

The gender gap in performance reviews

Performance reviews are correlated with compensation, promotion, and career decisions in the labor market. Using data from Reflektive, formerly an employee performance management company, I examine gender differences in over 100,000 performance reviews for 170 companies across 12 different industries. I find that women rate their performance lower than men, and these differences persist when accounting for external manager and peer reviews of the worker's performance. The gender gap in how women versus men rate themselves as compared to their managers persists across different types of industries, firms, reviewers, and workers, highlighting the generalizability of the results. These findings may have implications for self-promotion in other high-stakes labor market settings.

Quality Assurance Scheme of Undergraduate Medical Education in Medical Colleges of Bangladesh: Past, Present and Future

Improving quality of medical education is a key contributing factor to improving the quality of healthcare. The rapid increase in number of medical colleges in Bangladesh, especially in the private sector, makes its vital to have effective quality assurance system in place. Quality assurance resembles a state in which medical colleges take on challenges to address different aspects of quality in undergraduate medical education through check and balance in a methodical approach. In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the Center for Medical Education (CME) and the Directorate General of Health Service (DGHS) to develop and publish the National Guidelines &amp; Tools for the Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS) for medical colleges in Bangladesh. Since then that guideline has been serving as resource material and guide for institutionalization of the QAS based on the three principles of accountability, self-evaluation, and external peer review, with the latest revision done in 2012. At the institutional level, the scheme was proposed to be managed by the Academic Council, Academic Coordination Committee, the four (previously three) Phase Coordination Groups, Subject Coordinators, and Faculty Review &amp; Development Committee. The operational framework is based on course appraisal, faculty development and review scheme and external review. A model of “pair of medical colleges” was also proposed as to oversee the QAS activities of each other and report to the National Quality Assurance Body (NQAB). This review paper aims to highlight the history of QAS in our medical colleges, their achievements to date and challenges as well as scopes for future improvement to enhance the quality of medical education in Bangladesh. Mugda Med Coll J. 2022; 5(2): 104-109

How Effective is the Green Financing Framework for Renewable Energy? A Case Study of PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy in Indonesia

This paper assesses the green financing framework for renewable energy in Indonesia, with a focus on PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) as a case study. PGE is a state-owned company and a significant producer of geothermal energy in Indonesia. The paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of PGE's green financing framework, including its reliance on government policy and regulation, the speed and efficiency of disbursement of funds, and the quality of project selection. The paper also examines PGE's intention to engage external auditors to verify its internal tracking method and allocation of funds, which aligns with global best practices in green financing. The involvement of external reviewers adds an extra layer of oversight and credibility to the process. Overall, the paper concludes that PGE has a strong framework in place for managing green financing, with several projects in various stages of implementation. However, there is room for improvement in terms of project selection criteria and impact reporting accuracy and reliability. In summary, this paper provides valuable insights into the green financing framework for renewable energy in Indonesia, with a specific focus on PGE as a case study.

Review Websites Improve College Exam Performance, but Review Strategy Might Not Matter

Retrieval practice has been shown to improve learning and memory, but most of these studies occurred within laboratory settings. We explored whether external review websites influenced exam performance in university-level psychology courses. The websites randomly assigned students to either a read condition (i.e., the question and answer were presented simultaneously) or a test condition (i.e., the question was presented by itself, with the answer being revealed after a retrieval attempt). Students could utilize the websites as frequently as they desired throughout the semester, and separate websites were created for each exam within a particular course. Results suggested that the review websites improved exam performance, but there was no advantage for those in the test versus read group. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Effects of blended learning training for oncology physicians to advise their patients about complementary and integrative therapies: results from the multicenter cluster-randomized KOKON-KTO trial

BackgroundMany oncology physicians are confronted with the topic of complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) by cancer patients. This study examined whether a blended learning (e-learning and a workshop) to train oncology physicians in providing advice on CIM therapies to their cancer patients, in addition to distributing an information leaflet about reputable CIM websites, had different effects on physician-reported outcomes in regard to consultations compared with only distributing the leaflet.MethodsIn a multicenter, cluster-randomized trial, 48 oncology physicians were randomly allocated to an intervention group (CIM consultation and an information leaflet) or a control group (information leaflet only). After the training, the oncology physicians conducted 297 consultations with their cancer patients. Measurements were assessed at oncology physician, physician–patient-interaction (measured by external reviewers), and patient levels. This analysis focused on the physician outcomes of stress reaction and perceived consultation skill competency. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with a subsample of oncology physicians who experienced both, the intervention and control condition.ResultsThe oncology physicians in the intervention group showed a lower stress reaction in all measured dimensions after CIM consultations than those in the control group. There was no significant difference between oncology physicians in the intervention and control groups regarding the perceived consultation skill competency (overburden: intervention 1.4 [95% CI: 0.7;2.1]; control 2.1 [95% CI: 1.4;2.7], tension: 1.3 [95% CI: 0.7;2.0] vs. 1.9 [95% CI: 1.3;2.5], and discomfort with consultation situations: 1.0 [95% CI: 0.4;1.7]; vs. 1.7 [95% CI: 1.2;2.3]). The qualitative data showed that only providing the leaflet seemed impersonal to oncology physicians, while the training made them feel well prepared to conduct a full conversation about CIM and provide the information leaflet.ConclusionsIn our exploratory study providing structured CIM consultations showed positive effects on the perceived stress of oncology physicians, and the training was subjectively experienced as an approach that improved physician preparation for advising cancer patients about CIM, however no effects regarding perceived consultation skill competency were found.Trial registrationThe trial registration number of the KOKON-KTO study is DRKS00012704 in the German Clinical Trials Register (Date of registration: 28.08.2017).

Patient Decision Aid for Chemotherapy or Exclusion in Cisplatin-Intolerant Patients With Locally Advanced Cervical Cancer: Development, Alpha Testing, and Peer Validation.

In locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC), adding cisplatin to radiotherapy (RT) improves survival but increases toxicity. Among patients with cisplatin contraindications, RT compliance may be compromised by toxicity because of cisplatin or a substitute. In shared decision making, a patient decision aid (PtDA) may decrease decisional conflict and attitudinal barriers, thereby improving treatment compliance. Following International Patient Decision Aid Standards (IPDAS) guidelines, a steering committee of two radiation oncologists, a gynecologic oncologist, an oncology nurse, a clinical psychologist, a cancer survivor, and a caregiver developed the chemotherapy or exclusion in cisplatin-intolerant patients with LACC (CECIL) prototype, a PtDA for cisplatin-intolerant patients with LACC deciding about adding chemotherapy to RT. The prototype was alpha-tested using the e-Delphi method. The patient decision aid research group Ottawa Acceptability Questionnaire was used to evaluate comprehensibility, length, amount of information, neutrality, and overall suitability for decision making. The prototype was then independently evaluated by local internal, local external, and international reviewers using the IPDAS checklist version 4, which encompasses information, probabilities, values, guidance, development, evidence, disclosure, plain language, and evaluation. Alpha testing showed high practitioner acceptability (all items with mean and median scores ≥4; overall mean score 4.70 of 5.00) and good patient acceptability (all items rated good to excellent). Content validation showed that the PtDA satisfied all IPDAS six qualifying and six certification criteria, with high overall mean score (3.63 of 4.00) for all 17 applicable quality criteria. The CECIL prototype shows good practitioner and patient acceptability, and content validity on peer review. Clinical testing to determine its effectiveness in reducing decisional conflict is ongoing.

Consolidated Reporting Guidelines for Prognostic and Diagnostic Machine Learning Modeling Studies: Development and Validation.

The reporting of machine learning (ML) prognostic and diagnostic modeling studies is often inadequate, making it difficult to understand and replicate such studies. To address this issue, multiple consensus and expert reporting guidelines for ML studies have been published. However, these guidelines cover different parts of the analytics lifecycle, and individually, none of them provide a complete set of reporting requirements. We aimed to consolidate the ML reporting guidelines and checklists in the literature to provide reporting items for prognostic and diagnostic ML in in-silico and shadow mode studies. We conducted a literature search that identified 192 unique peer-reviewed English articles that provide guidance and checklists for reporting ML studies. The articles were screened by their title and abstract against a set of 9 inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that were filtered through had their quality evaluated by 2 raters using a 9-point checklist constructed from guideline development good practices. The average κ was 0.71 across all quality criteria. The resulting 17 high-quality source papers were defined as having a quality score equal to or higher than the median. The reporting items in these 17 articles were consolidated and screened against a set of 6 inclusion and exclusion criteria. The resulting reporting items were sent to an external group of 11 ML experts for review and updated accordingly. The updated checklist was used to assess the reporting in 6 recent modeling papers in JMIR AI. Feedback from the external review and initial validation efforts was used to improve the reporting items. In total, 37 reporting items were identified and grouped into 5 categories based on the stage of the ML project: defining the study details, defining and collecting the data, modeling methodology, model evaluation, and explainability. None of the 17 source articles covered all the reporting items. The study details and data description reporting items were the most common in the source literature, with explainability and methodology guidance (ie, data preparation and model training) having the least coverage. For instance, a median of 75% of the data description reporting items appeared in each of the 17 high-quality source guidelines, but only a median of 33% of the data explainability reporting items appeared. The highest-quality source articles tended to have more items on reporting study details. Other categories of reporting items were not related to the source article quality. We converted the reporting items into a checklist to support more complete reporting. Our findings supported the need for a set of consolidated reporting items, given that existing high-quality guidelines and checklists do not individually provide complete coverage. The consolidated set of reporting items is expected to improve the quality and reproducibility of ML modeling studies.

Guidance on take-home naloxone distribution and use by community overdose responders in Canada.

The increasing toxicity of opioids in the unregulated drug market has led to escalating numbers of overdoses in Canada and worldwide; takehome naloxone (THN) is an evidence-based intervention that distributes kits containing naloxone to people in the community who may witness an overdose. The purpose of this guidance is to provide policy recommendations for territorial, provincial and federal THN programs, using evidence from scientific and grey literature and community evidence that reflects 11 years of THN distribution in Canada. The Naloxone Guidance Development Group - a multidisciplinary team including people with lived and living experience and expertise of drug use - used the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research & Evaluation (AGREE II) instrument to inform development of this guidance. We considered published evidence identified through systematic reviews of all literature types, along with community evidence and expertise, to generate recommendations between December 2021 and September 2022. We solicited feedback on preliminary recommendations through an External Review Committee and a public input process. The project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse. We used the Guideline International Network principles for managing competing interests. Existing evidence from the literature on THN was of low quality. We incorporated evidence from scientific and grey literature, and community expertise to develop our recommendations. These were in 3 areas: routes of naloxone administration, THN kit contents and overdose response. Take-home naloxone programs should offer the choice of both intramuscular and intranasal formulations of naloxone in THN kits. Recommended kit contents include naloxone, a naloxone delivery device, personal protective equipment, instructions and a carrying case. Trained community overdose responders should prioritize rescue breathing in the case of respiratory depression, and conventional cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the case of cardiac arrest, among other interventions. This guidance development project provides direction for THN programs in Canada in the context of limited published evidence, with recommendations developed in collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

Strategies for Including the Excluded in Education: A Case of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

This article has been prepared to disclose a number of strategies that need to be implemented to ensure the inclusion of students with intellectual disabilities in education. This research is guided by interpretive paradigm accompanied by institutional ethnography. Eight special education teachers, four resource classroom teachers, and five experts working in the field of inclusive education were chosen as the sample of the study by employing purposive sampling technique. In-depth interview and desk review were used as the main techniques to collect information and then the information were transcribed, edited, classified, and thematized by considering the objective of this study. External audit, peer review and thick description have been used as major techniques to maximize the credibility and authenticity of this article. Results of this study reveal that almost all students with intellectual disabilities were receiving educational services in segregated settings though there are policy provisions of providing inclusive education. Therefore, different strategies such as providing multi-tiered supports, developing sense of belongingness, educating in the mainstream classroom, mobilizing peers, formulating alternative learning standards, creating cooperative learning environment, etc. should be employed to optimize the inclusion of these children in education.

Acknowledgement of Child Maltreatment's 2022 External Reviewers.

Acknowledgement of Child Maltreatment's 2022 External Reviewers.

Broad Trends in Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics.

The objective of this study is to highlight innovative research and contemporary trends in the area of Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics (PHEI). Following a similar approach to last year's edition, a meticulous search was conducted on PubMed (with keywords including topics related to Public Health, Epidemiological Surveillance and Medical Informatics), examining a total of 2,022 scientific publications on Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics (PHEI). The resulting references were thoroughly examined by the three section editors. Subsequently, 10 papers were chosen as potential candidates for the best paper award. These selected papers were then subjected to peer-review by six external reviewers, in addition to the section editors and two chief editors of the IMIA yearbook of medical informatics. Each paper underwent a total of five reviews. Out of the 539 references retrieved from PubMed, only two were deemed worthy of the best paper award, although four papers had the potential to qualify in total. The first best paper by pertains to a study about the need for a new annotation framework due to inadequacies in existing methods and resources. The second paper elucidates the use of Weibo data to monitor the health of Chinese urbanites. The correlation between air pollution and health sensing was measured via generalized additive models. One of the primary findings of this edition is the dearth of studies identified for the PHEI section, which represents a significant decline compared to the previous edition. This is particularly surprising given that the post-COVID period should have led to an increased use of information and communication technology for public health issues.