The loss of local control over prison administration

The present analysis argues that state governments lack the capacity to administer prisons, and that this lack of capacity explains the loss of local control over prisons more fully than does overcrowding or judicial activism. Administrative deficiencies among state governments include a lack of commitment and ability to comply with federal court orders, an unwillingness to institute certifiable grievance systems, and a lack of legal defense expertise. Characteristics of state governments which help to explain administrative deficiencies also are identified. Among these are a lack of gubernatorial power, high degrees of administrative autonomy and instability, and failures to treat prisons as limited resources. It is concluded that political development is required before state governments can regain control over prison administration.     

试论加强对侦查权的检察控制

我国的侦查程序,几乎是由公安机关对犯罪嫌疑人单方面采取的刑事追诉活动。这样,弱小的犯罪嫌疑人难以和强大的侦查机关展开理性地对抗,不利于其合法权益的保护。加强对侦查权的检察控制有着深厚的哲学基础和法理基础。人权保障理念、权力制衡学说以及我国的宪政格局、检察官的司法官性质、法律监督理论,决定了检察机关应当加强对侦查权的控制,以实现实体正义和正当程序的统一。     

The prohibition to abuse one's human rights: A theory

Supporters of communism, national socialism and radical Islamism, but also people who incite racial hatred or deny the Holocaust, see their rights severely curtailed by the abuse clause of Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights. To make sense of this provision, this paper first introduces the distinction between abusable and non‐abusable rights in order to delimit the scope of Article 17. Then, this paper suggests a “test” to spot instances of abuse of human rights by borrowing the concept of performative self‐contradiction from speech act theory. Article 17 is reconceptualised as dealing with conduct that self‐contradictorily uses rights but simultaneously denies their very idea. In this way, it becomes possible to make sense of and to unify the disparate case law that Article 17 has generated so far: it equally targets political human rights abuse, attacking liberal democracy in general; and exclusionary human rights abuse, attacking the rights of other people.     

Estimating economic impacts of new dimensional control technology applied to automobile body manufacturing

CONSAD analysts investigated the effects of the ATP-sponsored project on controlling dimensional variation in manufacturing (the “2mm project”). They looked first at the firm level to determine the technological changes that resulted from the project; the role played by the ATP; and the direct impacts on automobile production and maintenance costs. They then used macroeconomic interindustry modeling to project preliminary impacts on the national economy of adoption of the technology by the automobile industry. A challenge was to estimate the impacts based on preliminary and partial information characterizing industry experience. Some potential effects of the ATP-sponsored project were considered too uncertain at this early stage to attempt quantification and were omitted from the analysis. The results of the macroeconomic analysis provide a very preliminary projection of national economic impacts of this ATP-sponsored project. This paper is based on a study performed by CONSAD Research Corporation of a project funded by the Advanced Technology Program.     

行政法的利益代表模式与行政自由裁量权的控制

行政法的利益代表模式是由美国著名行政法学家斯图尔特针对行政法的传统模式而在《美国行政法的重构》一书中提出来的，该模式强调公民参与在行政自由裁量权控制中的作用。但是，利益代表模式作为一种控制行政自由裁量问题的普遍方案存在诸多缺陷。     

Low blood alcohol levels. Experimental study on attention and body sway control functions

Objective

Attempting to prevent alcohol-related road accidents requires sensitive, reliable and easy-to-use methods and instruments for ascertaining drivers’ state of intoxication. This paper examines the scientific validity of a method for assessing psychomotor performance combining measurement of neurosensory functions with the effect of low blood alcohol levels: body sway control and attention functions.

Methods

A double-blind, placebo-controlled study, with cross-over and random distribution on the effects of low blood alcohol levels. Psychomotor performance and body sway control were studied in 16 healthy volunteers after they had drunk a small dose of ethyl alcohol (0.5 g/kg) or placebo. Neurosensory and psychomotor functions were assessed by a Divided Attention Test (DAT), composed of the association between one test exploring short-term memory (Memory Test) and one exploring attention (Response Competition Test). Alterations in body sway were recorded by stabilometry. Tests were administered at 30, 60, 120 and 180 min after intake of alcohol. After a wash-out period of at least one week, subjects repeated the test after taking a second dose of alcohol or placebo. Blood alcohol concentrations were monitored by analysis of concentrations in expired air.

Results

A BAC under 50 mg/dL did not reveal statistically significant impaired memory capacities or motor coordination. Instead, statistically significant oscillations of body sway were measured (p-values = 0.0001), especially when stabilometry was associated with deviant stimuli like those of the DAT (p-values = 0.0001).

Conclusions

This study showed: (1) impaired performance, at the limits of statistical significance, on a complex psychometric test like the DAT; (2) some cognitive, attentive and visual perceptive functions are not compromised or at least not in a statistically significant manner; (3) a considerable alteration in the capacity for control of body sway after intake of alcohol becomes further and massively impaired when deviant stimuli are given; (4) this impairment appeared early and was more marked 1 and 2 h after intake of alcohol.     

Technology transfer,the environment,and the third world: Having one's cake and eating it

With the end of the Cold War, the major trend of the next century will be the development of competitive export economies in third world countries. In this paper, an on-going experiment in Mexico is reported. The experiment features the transfer of technology with a minimum adverse environmental impact. The goal is to develop sustainable integration into global markets by transferring technology that is both cost and quality competitive and environmentally safe. The target group is Mexican subsistence producers.His most recent book is Volunteerism and World Development: Pathway to a New World (Praeger).