The Impact of Prenatal Exposure to Power Plant Emissions on Birth Weight: Evidence from a Pennsylvania Power Plant Located Upwind of New Jersey

To examine the infant health impact of prenatal exposure to power plant emissions, we draw scientific evidence on the impacted region downwind of a large polluter, a coal‐fired power plant located on the border of two states and proven to be the sole contributor to the violation of air quality standards of the impacted region. Our results show that among all live singleton births that occurred during 1990 through 2006, those born to mothers living as far as 20 to 30 miles away downwind from the power plant (which is also an affluent region) during pregnancy are at greater risks of low birth weight (LBW) and very low birth weight (VLBW): the likelihoods of LBW and VLBW could increase approximately by 6.50 and 17.12 percent, respectively. In light of the continual efforts of The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in reducing cross‐state air pollution caused by transboundary power plant emissions, our study is aimed at broadening the scope of cross‐border pollution impact analysis by taking into account adverse infant health effects of upwind polluters, which can impose disproportionate burdens of health risks on downwind states due to air pollutants transported by wind.     

Challenges for China's Reform of Government Procurement

China's reform of government procurement aims to promote greater prudence in expenditure management through introducing transparency, accountability, and competition into the procurement process. The reform can also be construed as China's effort to fulfill its commitment to the WTO. This paper examines the evolution of the reform and measures the success of the reform against three indicators: the amount of cost reduction, the coverage of procurement activities, and the degree of harmonization with the WTO Agreement of Government Procurement. This paper argues that the success of the reform has been limited by an array of factors, including the misconceptions of certain procurement officials and their malpractices in procurement processes, the poor capacities of some local governments in enforcing reform, structural deficiencies in the budget management system, and the lack of political will of both central and local authorities in spurring trade liberalization.     

The criminality of female narcotics addicts: A causal modeling approach

A longitudinal model was developed relating early deviance, narcotics use, and three types of income-generating crime (property crime, drug dealing, and prostitution) among female narcotics addicts during the first 2 years of the addiction career. The model was tested by a confirmatory structural equation analysis. Early deviance predicted subsequent property crime involvement. Stability across time was demonstrated for narcotics use, property crime, and drug dealing. Strong contemporaneous relationships among these constructs were found. These findings partially replicate patterns found in previous studies for male addicts. In contrast to male addicts, a positive, instead of negative, contemporaneous relationship was found between property crime and drug dealing activities. Between constructs, cross-lag effects were generally small and only that between property crime and later narcotics use was significant. Finally, prostitution was failed to be incorporated in the model. Further research is needed to elucidate the diverse economic support systems among women which may affect the drug-crime relationship.     

马克思主义中国化的实践与中国化马克思主义的创新

马克思主义中国化就是在实践发展的基础上将马克思主义基本原理同中国具体实际相结合形成的包括毛泽东思想、邓小平理论、＂三个代表＂重要思想和科学发展观等在内的中国化马克思主义。中国化马克思主义者深入分析我国发展的阶段性新特征,将中国化马克思主义不断地推进到新的理论境界,这充分证明了马克思主义中国化的实践绝不停顿,中国化马克思主义的创新永无止境。     

Interest Group Politics in Macau after Handover

After the handover of sovereignty in 1999 and the exit of the Portuguese administration, pro-Beijing and pro-government interest groups formed by local Chinese dominated Macau's political landscape. The major interest groups may be classified into three clusters: business organizations, labour unions, and neighbourhood groups. This paper examines the significance of interest groups in the enclave's politics and argues that their political power was from extensive grassroots support they received as well as Beijing's united front policies, the government's co-optation strategy, and the quasi-democratic political system. These interest groups also replaced the governor and under-secretaries to become the core of the patron-client networks in the political arena. This paper contends that the changing socio-economic environment, along with the advent of foreign casino investors, will gradually turn social support away from the interest groups and undercut their political influence. Balancing their pro-government stance and their role as representatives of their constituencies will therefore become increasingly difficult.     

Depression,Suicidal Ideation,and Substance Use Among Continuation High School Students

This study examines the structural relationships among depression, suicidal ideation, gateway substance use (including cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana), and hard substance use (including cocaine, stimulants, and inhalants) in a sample of continuation high school students at high risk for drug abuse. When the model was examined separately by ethnic group (Latino and Caucasian) and gender, significant differences among the factor correlations emerged. Compared to Latinos and females, Caucasians and males, respectively, demonstrated a greater number of significant relationships among the factors. For Latinos and females, only the depression and suicidal ideation factors were significantly correlated with each other, as were the gateway and hard substance use factors. For Caucasians and males, four of the six factors were significantly intercorrelated. One implication is that mood enhancement may be a particularly important reason for hard substance use among Caucasian and male adolescents.     

Longitudinal Relations Among Depression,Stress, and Coping in High Risk Youth

The structural relationships among risk and protective factors were examined in a sample of 646 continuation high school students. Although depression predicted more perceived stress, it was not a unique predictor of anger coping, seeking social support, or substance use. Perceived stress increased seeking social support. Seeking social support decreased the utilization of anger coping, which suggests that it may be a means of prevention for adolescents. Anger coping behaviors were implicated as being significant in sustaining depression and perceived stress, and in increasing hard drug use over time. Moderation analysis indicated that although there was no difference in the stress–coping–depression relationship between Latinos and Caucasians, the relationship among perceived stress, anger coping, and depression was stronger for female than for male adolescents. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

The formation of an international environmental agreement as a two-stage exclusive cartel formation game with transferable utilities

We construct a two-stage exclusive cartel formation game with utility transfers to model the formation process of an international environmental agreement. Our results show that in the first stage of low degree of consensus, engaging in utility transfers by asymmetric countries will accomplish little. In contrast, in the second stage of higher degree of consensus, it is more likely for asymmetric countries to engage in monetary transfers to form the grand coalition, particularly if a small stable coalition has already been formed in the first stage. This article therefore provides a theoretical perspective to explain why it is more likely for some developed countries to initiate an IEA formation process by forming a small stable coalition first before engaging in monetary transfers to form the grand coalition with all the other countries. Such a perspective is consistent with the historical development of the Montreal Protocol and may also explain the difficulty for asymmetric countries to form the grand coalition at the beginning of the IEA formation process of the Kyoto Protocol.