Identifying the Causes of Issue Attention and Policy Change: Evidence from U.S. Offshore Oil and Natural Gas Drilling Policy, 2008

The flow of attention in the policy process is dynamic and disruptive. While we know changes in issue attention often result in policy change, the causal mechanisms underlying the different stages of the attention allocation process remain unclear. This article uses Punctuated Equilibrium Theory to examine an underdeveloped aspect of issue attention within policy‐making institutions: how specific policy indicators influence the entry and exit of issues on policy‐making agendas. Partisan issue attention in the House of Representatives is used to analyze a significant change to U.S. offshore oil and natural gas drilling policy in 2008. The results highlight how historically high gasoline prices precipitated a shift in attention to offshore drilling and subsequent policy change. Moreover, gasoline prices Granger‐cause attention to energy policy in partisan speeches over time. The analysis further reveals how competing policy frames and a salient focusing event shaped congressional and public discourse, leading to subsequent changes in attention. Taken together, the findings broaden our understanding of the policy process by identifying the specific forces behind the entry and exit of issues on the policy‐making agenda.     

Virtual anthropology: a preliminary test of macroscopic observation versus 3D surface scans and computed tomography (CT) scans

Virtual anthropology (VA) is based on applying anthropological methods currently used to analyse bones to 3D models of human remains. While great advances have been made in this endeavour in the past decade, several interrogations concerning how reliable these models are and what their proper use should be remain unanswered. In this research, a fundamental assumption of VA has been investigated: if the way we perceive and apply an anthropological method is truly similar when looking at bones macroscopically and through various 3D media. In order to answer, 10 skulls of known age and sex were scanned using a computed tomography (CT) scanner and a 3D surface scanner. Two observers separately applied a defined staging method to eight suture sites on these skulls, first looking at the bone macroscopically, then at the 3D surface scan, and finally on the CT scan. Two rounds of observation were carried out by each observer. Intra- and inter-observer error were evaluated, and two sample t-tests used to evaluate if the different types of medium used yielded significantly different observations. The results show a high degree of inter-observer error, and that data obtained from 3D surface scans differ from macroscopic observation (confidence level 95%, P ≤ 0.05). CT scans, in these settings, yielded results comparable to those obtained through macroscopic observations. These results offer many possibilities for future research, including indications on the kind of anthropological methods and anatomical landmarks that might be reliably transferable to the virtual environment. All current methods used in traditional anthropology should be tested, and if they prove unreliable, new techniques to analyse bones from virtual models should be developed.

Key points

• Large discrepancies between observation on dry bones and computer-generated 3D models (surface scans or CT scans) could lead to the re-evaluation of the suitability of traditional anthropological methods for application on 3D models.
• This preliminary study evaluates whether macroscopic, 3D surface scans, and CT scans viewings generate different observations.
• The results indicate that the data are not always coherent across all three media of observation.
• Explanations include the aspect given to the bone by the 3D software, differences between handling bones in real life versus on a computer, and level of expertise of the observers.

     

中国化妆品动物试验立法完善——与欧盟立法比较

对化妆品进行安全性评价及数据分析，离不开动物试验。欧盟最早通过立法规范化妆品动物试验，对他国相关立法具有重要的指导和借鉴意义。中国作为世界第三大化妆品市场，如果不禁止化妆品动物试验，不仅将面临化妆品动物福利贸易壁垒，而且无法进口未经动物试验的化妆品。中国应通过立法鼓励化妆品生产商使用动物“替代方法”研发新产品，并逐步禁止化妆品动物试验。     

以“4+3”管理手段为载体 探索采油厂基层队内部市场管理新途径

大庆油田有限责任公司第三采油厂在基层单位运用市场手段,探索实施"4+3"内部市场管理法。"4+3",即构建4个内部模拟市场,完善三项配套措施。实行"4+3"内部市场化管理模式两年来,基层队发生了深刻变化:员工自觉性明显提高;员工学习技术热情明显提高;员工挖潜增效意识明显提高;基层生产管理水平明显提高。     

学习“三个代表”的重要思想坚持全心全意依靠工人阶级的指导方针

江泽民同志提出的"三个代表",深刻揭示了在建设有中国特色的社会主义的整个历史进程中,党要始终不渝地坚持全心全意依靠工人阶级指导方针的历史必然性,既是对马克思主义党建理论的继承和发展,也是对马克思主义工运理论的继承和发展.     

The Formal Delegation of Regulatory Decisions in the Telecommunication Sector: An Explanation Using Classification Trees

Research on regulation has traditionally focused on studying the delegation of regulatory competencies from political principals to an independent regulatory agency. In this article, we argue that this delegation is nuanced by different factors that affect whether a specific regulatory decision is formally delegated. We examine and explain formal delegation patterns at the level of individual regulatory decisions in twelve countries located in Europe, Latin America, and South Asia. The data were gathered by coding the twelve countries' telecommunications legislation. The data analysis was undertaken using a classification tree model—a nonparametric model. We found that the maturity of the market has the greatest effect on the formal delegation of regulatory decisions, but this effect is also influenced by the other theoretical factors considered, particularly the level of political constraints and the type of regulation.     

Keine Unterbrechung eines Unterhaltsvorschussverfahrens durch Konkurs des Schuldners

Die Er?ffnung des Schuldenregulierungsverfahrens über das Verm?gen des Unterhaltsschuldners führt nicht zur Unterbrechung eines Unterhaltsvorschussverfahrens.     

物联网:拉动经济增长的新"引擎"

1995年,比尔·盖茨在《未来之路》一书中曾经提及物联网的概念,由于当时网络终端技术的局限使得这一构想无法真正实现。2005年11月17日,在突尼斯举行的信息社会世界峰会上,国际电信联盟（I-Tu）发布了＂ITu互联网报告2005：物联网＂,正式提出了物联网的概念。转眼几年,随着3G网络的建设,物联网再次登场,变成了经济危机后各国关注的焦点,都希望其成为拉动经济增长点的新＂引擎＂,由此掀起了新一轮的信息产业浪潮。本文将试从物联网概念、产生背景及发展前景等方面进行初步探讨。     

浅析加速推进东亚合作进程、动力及前景

经过10余年的发展,东盟和中日韩之间的功能性合作不断扩大和深化,以开放地区主义、"东盟方式"及东亚共同体为核心规范,以东盟为主导、以10+1为基础、以10+3为主渠道、以东亚峰会为重要补充的东亚合作机制基本形成.本文主要分析东盟与中日韩为主导的东亚共同体的合作进程、发展动力及前景.