State Capacity and Terrorism: A Two-Dimensional Approach

Conventional wisdom suggests that dissident groups use terrorism when they face an overwhelmingly more powerful state, yet attacks in developing countries have predominated in the post-Cold War era, suggesting that terrorism is an increasingly weak state phenomenon. Cross-national studies of terrorism find mixed results for how common measures of state capacity influence terrorism. We argue that these indeterminate findings are due in part to a partial understanding of both what constitutes state capacity and how different aspects of state strength or weakness relate to the propensity of groups to use terrorism. We decompose state capacity into two dimensions that we theorize are particularly relevant to dissident groups: military capacity, or the ability to project conventional military force, and bureaucratic/administrative capacity. Our analysis supports the claim that terrorist attacks are more frequently targeted at states with large, technologically sophisticated militaries but less frequently targeted at states with higher bureaucratic and administrative capacity. We also compare two militarily capable states, France and Russia, that have had different recent experiences with terrorism to help illustrate the causal mechanisms involved. Evidence from our models and cases suggest that states can be capable in different ways, and these various capabilities create differing incentives for using terror as a strategic and tactical tool.     

Implementation of Digital-Era Governance: The Case of Open Data in U.S. Cities

This article examines the institutional factors that influence the implementation of open data platforms in U.S. cities. Public management scholarship has argued that governance can be transformed by new information technologies that improve transparency and engagement, reduce administrative costs, and support performance management systems. However, this argument ignores key risks for administrators, as well as institutional and political obstacles that can thwart implementation. This article uses hierarchical negative binomial regression to analyze the organizational and institutional features influencing implementation in more than 1,500 departments across 60 cities. Department type and administrative capacity are strongly associated with the number of open data files available, while city-level institutional characteristics and administrative capacity are not significant factors. Municipal demographics are also identified as a factor, suggesting a potential demand-side influence from wealthy and technologically proficient residents. Evidence for Practice

• The implementation of open data policies benefits from targeted approaches at the department level rather than uniform, citywide objectives or requirements.
• City executive-level positions such as chief data or information officers are not necessarily associated with successful implementation, measured by the number of open data files made available.
• Open data implementation involves additional administrative responsibilities and labor at the department level, so city administrators looking to expand the number and variety of data sets available through their open data platforms should devote time and resources to working directly with departments to facilitate and encourage data sharing.
• Administrators looking to expand the number and variety of data sets available through their open data platforms should consider the costs associated with investing in increasing individual departments’ abilities to balance the additional administrative responsibilities and labor involved.

     

关于将松北新区建成高能级发展科技创新城的调研报告

盖如垠书记到任哈尔滨后,提出了“北跃、南拓、中兴、强县”的发展战略构想,并经市委十二届七次全会丰富完善已成为哈尔滨未来发展的战略取向。通过学习市委全会精神,我们认为,这一战略构想符合哈尔滨的发展实际,十分及时地抓住了哈尔滨发展的关键和主轴,是哈尔滨经济社会实现跨越式发展的重要抉择。近期,我们班的全体学员对实施“北跃”战略——将松北新区打造成具有高能级发展功能的科技创新城问题进行了调研和思考,形成了此报告,供市委决策参考。     

Carbon‐Based Fingerprint Powder as a One‐Step Development and Matrix Application for High‐Resolution Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Latent Fingerprints

Carbon‐based materials are often used as matrices for matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI‐MS) and its imaging (MALDI‐MSI). However, researchers have refrained from using carbon‐based fingerprint powder (CFP) as a matrix due to high background and contamination. In this work, the compatibility of CFP is reevaluated with MALDI‐MSI using a high‐resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) and compared to traditional organic matrices. Relevant fingerprint compounds were easily distinguished from carbon cluster peaks when using HRMS. For fair comparison, half of a fingerprint was dusted with CFP while the other half was dusted with traditional organic matrices. All compounds studied had comparable, or higher, signal‐to‐noise (S/N) ratios when CFP was used as the matrix. Additionally, chemical image qualities closely followed the trend of S/N ratios. CFP proved to be an effective one‐step development and matrix application technique for MALDI‐MSI of latent fingerprints, when carbon cluster peaks are well separated by a HRMS.     

Can peace be purchased? A sectoral-level analysis of aid��s influence on transnational terrorism

Does foreign aid reduce terrorism? We examine whether foreign aid decreases terrorism by analyzing whether aid targeted toward certain sectors is more effective than others. We use the most comprehensive databases on foreign aid and transnational terrorism??AidData and ITERATE??to provide a series of statistical tests. Our results show that foreign aid decreases terrorism especially when targeted toward sectors, such as education, health, civil society, and conflict prevention. These sector-level results indicate that foreign aid can be an effective instrument in fighting terrorism if allocated in appropriate ways.     

Delivering Science into Public Policy: An Analysis of Murray‐Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Assessment as a Model for Impact

The desire to base policy at least in part upon scientific information is a clear trend in Australian governance. The growing literature on how to facilitate this intent highlights a few important principles complemented by examples from the application of social sciences. An example from a very large research project based on physical sciences responding to a national crisis is presented in the context of how it approached delivery to policy‐makers. The Murray‐Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Assessment, widely considered an outstanding success in both scientific terms and for its impact, is reviewed with respect to how the scientific challenge of assessing the future security of water resources in Australia's most important and politically contentious catchment translated into the policy domain. The lessons learned offer a potential template for science with policy intent.     

Sevoflurane concentrations in blood, brain, and lung after sevoflurane-induced death

Sevoflurane concentrations in blood, brain, and lung were measured in an individual apparently dying from sevoflurane inhalation. Sevoflurane is a volatile nonflammable fluorinated methyl isopropyl ether inhaled anesthetic, chemically related to desflurane and isoflurane. The incidence of abuse of sevoflurane is lower than that of other drugs of abuse possibly due to its inaccessibility to the general public and less pleasurable and addicting effects. The dead subject was an anesthetist found prone in bed holding an empty bottle of sevoflurane (Ultane). Serum, urine, and liver were screened for numerous drugs and metabolites using enzyme immunoassays and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Analysis did not reveal presence of any drug, including ethanol, other than sevoflurane. Sevoflurane was determined by headspace gas chromatography and revealed concentrations of 15 microg/mL in blood and 130 mg/kg in brain and lung. Autopsy revealed pulmonary edema and frothing in the lung, pathological findings associated with death by sevoflurane or hypoxia. The cause of death was ruled as sevoflurane toxicity and the manner of death as accident.