The impact of past sexual experiences on attributions of responsibility for rape

Two factors potentially affect observers'attributions of responsibility to a rape survivor: how closely they identify with the survivor and how much they adhere to rape myths. To assess the impact of these factors, 157 female college students categorized by their sexual assault history and by their acceptance of rape myths, evaluated a sexual assault scenario. It was hypothesized that previously victimized participants would attribute less blame, and that those participants who self-identify as rape survivors would view the assault as rape more often than other participants. Neither hypothesis was supported. As expected, those who scored higher on the Rape Myths Acceptance Scale(RMAS) blamed the victim more and were less likely to believe rape had occurred. Only one subscale of the RMAS, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs, was consistently associated with participants'evaluation of the scenario, suggesting that this dimension may be especially important to understanding an observer's assessment of rape.     

Competition as Public Policy: a Review of Challenge Funding

Since their introduction in 1984 Challenge funds have been widely adopted by central government. They are now used by twelve government departments to distribute competitively more than £3,250 million of Exchequer funds. The introduction of Challenge funds appears to have been politically driven, usually focusing on the objectives of cost and efficiency rather than quality and equity. They represent a further manifestation of the introduction of competition and 'market style' structures. This paper examines the key features of 41 Challenge funds and their operational characteristics. Numerous benefits, such as cost savings and innovation, arising from the introduction of Challenge funds have been put forward. By reviewing other studies, which have investigated the impact of the introduction of competition in producer and consumer markets, and through comparison with previous schemes it is possible to examine the potential impact of Challenge funds. Administrative and monitoring mechanisms are found to be centralizing control, despite assertions to the contrary. There is a growing concern that the level of information collection required is too arduous and it is used to control and regulate schemes rather than as a method of investigating where operations could be improved. Leverage from Challenge funds has been no more successful than earlier non-competitive initiatives. Competitive bidding could stifle innovation and participatory democracy is not encouraged or facilitated by Challenge funds.     

基于高阶空间精度格式和嵌套网格对旋翼尾迹捕捉的改进

发展了一种基于高阶迎风格式和嵌套网格捕捉直升机悬停旋翼涡尾迹的方法.无粘通量采用Roe Reimann求解器,使用改进的5阶加权基本无振荡(WENO)格式对交界面左右状态进行高阶插值,并与MUSCL插值进行比较.为便于捕捉尾迹和实施周期性边界条件,计算采用结构嵌套网格,其中高质量的旋翼网格完全嵌套于背景网格中.当解达到近似收敛后在桨尖涡分布区域对背景网格进行加密,如此经过3次得到优化的背景网格.考虑到WENO格式插值的特点,提出了搜索3层洞边界和人工外边界的方法以便插值的直接进行.用该方法对一跨音速和一亚音速悬停旋翼粘性流场进行了数值计算.数值结果表明:所发展方法对涡尾迹具有很高的捕捉能力;与MUSCL格式相比,WENO格式具有较低的数值耗散.     

Term Limits,Campaign Contributions,and the Distribution of Power in State Legislatures

Using campaign contributions to legislators as an indicator of member influence, we explore the impact of term limits on the distribution of power within state legislatures. Specifically, we perform a cross‐state comparison of the relative influence of party caucus leaders, committee chairs, and rank‐and‐file legislators before and after term limits. The results indicate that term limits diffuse power in state legislatures, both by decreasing average contributions to incumbents and by reducing the power of party caucus leaders relative to other members. The change in contribution levels across legislators in different chambers implies a shift in power to the upper chamber in states with term limits. Thus, the impact of term limits may be attenuated in a bicameral system.