Flood risk reduction through insurance for SMEs in Pathumthani province,Thailand

Insurance could be an effective mechanism to assist small and medium enterprises mitigate unforeseen flood disasters. This article analyses insurance as an option for manufacturing SMEs to adopt to aid recovery from damage caused by floods, using data from flood-affected SMEs in Pathumthani province, Thailand, in 2011. The study findings suggest that inaccurate risk perception, reluctance of SMEs to utilise insurance due to high premium rates, and poor adoption of flood mitigation strategies resulted in longer recovery periods following the 2011 floods.     

Partisan bias and redistricting in France

Decided by the executive, redistrictings in France have been claimed to have substantial partisan bias in favor of the right. We examine the evidence for this claim in terms of France's left bloc versus right bloc politics, combining information from both the first and the second round of France's two round electoral system. We also examine data at the constituency level to look at factors, such as malapportionment, that can affect bias. As France is characterized by a pattern of a limited number of redistrictings, population inequalities have grown in legislative constituencies between plans. Although the procedures used to draw constituency boundaries for the French Assembly are rather opaque, and under the control of political authorities, partisan bias appears as minuscule.     

地面三维激光扫描在交通事故勘查及重建中的应用进展

本文回顾了地面三维激光扫描技术的发展历程和应用场景,简要阐述了地面三维激光扫描系统的技术原理和作业流程,对地面三维激光扫描技术在交通事故领域的应用进行分类,并详细梳理了各类别下的最新研究成果与实例,结合交通事故勘查和重建发展需求,探讨了目前存在的问题和未来发展方向。     

Analysing pig traders in Uganda: sampling issues,marketing activities,and constraint analysis

An integral part of the pig and pork value chain in Uganda is trader activity. This article reports on a study that quantifies the nature of these traders in Mukono district, a major pig and pork marketing site adjacent to Kampala, Uganda. Little guidance is available from the literature about the sampling of traders for this kind of research, and the second task addressed by this study is to test sampling mechanisms and report on their influence on the statistical results generated. Different sources of sampling frame provided different samples, with some limited overlap. The two samples exhibited distinctly different profiles of traders.     

Varieties of contemporary democratic breakdown and regression: A comparative analysis

The goal of this article is to understand which combinations of explanatory conditions account for the qualitative differences within forms of democratic breakdown (i.e., transition from democracy to a hybrid or authoritarian regime) and democratic regression (i.e., transition within democracy through a loss of democratic quality). The analysis focuses particularly on the specific features of those processes of change ending up with a transition from democratic rule, compared to those producing a simple loss of democratic quality within the democratic regime. Applying two‐step fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), the study aims to integrate different types of explanatory factors, offering a fresh and comprehensive perspective on this phenomenon.     

Criminal Justice Statistics—An Evolution

The origins of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and criminal justice statistics in general go back 150 years, but the U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1967, along with subsequent panels and commissions, added urgency and specificity to the work to be done to improve our understanding of the operation of the criminal justice system and of crime. Criminal justice statistics have the potential to be used to shape and evaluate specific policies and programs when the statistics are timely, accurate, and relevant to the decisions being made for policy formulation or evaluation. The full development of effective criminal justice statistics on crime and the administration of the justice system can provide for informed decision making and more insightful resource allocation. In this article, I summarize the historical progressions and evolution of criminal justice statistics in light of the changes affecting the justice environment and propose future work.     

Power Sector Reforms and Technical Performance: Good News from an Instrumental Variable Analysis

Over the past three decades, various power sector reforms have overhauled the governance of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution in almost a hundred countries. Have these reforms produced benefits? Using instrumental variables, we improve upon earlier studies and demonstrate that power sector reforms enacted between 1982 and 2008 have both had large positive effects on the availability of generation capacity and reduced transmission and distribution losses. We also show that the positive effects on generation capacity are pronounced in developing countries and that hybrid reforms falling short of privatization and free competition are effective in improving generation capacity in particular. Overall, the results show that these reforms are an effective tool to remove an important constraint on economic growth.     

Inclusive ideologies and passive performances: exploring masculinities and attitudes toward gay peers among boys in an elite youth football academy

Abstract

Drawing on data generated from semi-structured, one-to-one interviews in 2012, this article focuses on the attitudinal disposition toward homosexuality of 12 English academy level football players aged 14–15. Results highlight the presence of progressive attitudes toward homosexuality even though some of the youth feel they lack the agency to contest homophobia when espoused in their schools. Using a blend of two dominating masculinities theories, we use these interviews to highlight that boys in this setting are best understood as a complex imbrication of inclusivity yet socially-passive acceptance. We suggest that boys of this age are now primed for learning agency to contest the social marginalization of others.     

沙冬青生物碱对MDCC-MSB1细胞增殖抑制与诱导凋亡的影响

采用体外细胞培养技术、噻唑蓝(MTT)还原法、透射电子显微镜观察及流式细胞技术检测梯度浓度沙冬青总生物碱对体外培养鸡马立克氏病肿瘤HDCC-MSB1细胞的增殖抑制及诱导凋亡的作用。结果显示,沙冬青生物碱可显著抑制HDCC-MSB1细胞增殖,且这种抑制具有剂量和时间效应关系。经沙冬青生物碱作用的HDCC-MSB1细胞培养样本中有明显的DNA低含量颗粒(亚G1期峰),细胞周期各时相分布发生改变,细胞增殖在G1被阻滞,并进一步诱导HDCC-MSB1细胞凋亡。电子显微镜观察也表明,经沙冬青生物碱作用的HDCC-MSB1细胞培养样本中,大量HDCC-MSB1细胞凋亡。结果表明,沙冬青生物碱对HDCC-MSB1细胞增殖有显著抑制效应,其抑制机理为诱导HDCC-MSB1细胞凋亡。