Location privacy: The challenges of mobile service devices

Adding to the current debate, this article focuses on the personal data and privacy challenges posed by private industry's use of smart mobile devices that provide location-based services to users and consumers. Directly relevant to personal data protection are valid concerns about the collection, retention, use and accessibility of this kind of personal data, in relation to which a key issue is whether valid consent is ever obtained from users. While it is indisputable that geo-location technologies serve important functions, their potential use for surveillance and invasion of privacy should not be overlooked. Thus, in this study we address the question of how a legal regime can ensure the proper functionality of geo-location technologies while preventing their misuse. In doing so, we examine whether information gathered from geo-location technologies is a form of personal data, how it is related to privacy and whether current legal protection mechanisms are adequate. We argue that geo-location data are indeed a type of personal data. Not only is this kind of data related to an identified or identifiable person, it can reveal also core biographical personal data. What is needed is the strengthening of the existing law that protects personal data (including location data), and a flexible legal response that can incorporate the ever-evolving and unknown advances in technology.     

The effectiveness of service work: An analysis of recidivism

The Israeli “service work” law of 1987 enables a court to commute prison sentences of up to 6 months to service work in the community. This paper examines the correctional effectiveness of this new sanction by comparing the rate of recidivism (over a period of 14 months) among 407 offenders sentenced to service work to that of 950 comparable offenders sentenced to imprisonment. As the research design is quasi-experimental, an adjustment for confounders is carried out using the propensity score (PS) methodology. The estimation of the odds ratio of recidivism with respect to sanction comprises two steps: (a) the PS, which is the conditional probability of assignment to a particular sanction given a set of confounders, is estimated by a logistic model; and (b) the conditional probability of recidivism, given the PS and other covariates, is estimated by a second model. The findings indicate that before an adjustment for the systematic differences between the two sanctions was carried out, the odds for recidivism among prisoners were 2.4 times higher than the odds for service workers. After the adjustment, the odds ratio was reduced to 1.7. This estimate indicates that the service work sanction has a considerable correctional effect. The need to address additional criteria for the effectiveness of service work (e.g., net-widening) is emphasized.     

The mental health service crisis of neoliberalism -- an antipodean perspective

Major transformations in forms of governance of the liberal state have been wrought over the course of the last century, including the rise of neoliberalism and 'new public management.' Mental health too has witnessed change, with pharmacological treatment displacing residential care, a shift to community-based services, mainstreaming with general health care, and greater reliance on civil society institutions such as the family or markets. This article considers whether mental health law, and its court/tribunal 'gatekeepers' have kept pace with those changes. It argues that the focus of the liberal project needs to shift to measures which will better guarantee access to mental health services, and keep a more watchful eye on both 'hidden' coercion of people on community treatment orders, and passive neglect of human need.     

学习型公务员队伍建设的主要障碍及对策分析

"全民学习、终身学习"的学习型社会是知识经济时代对人的全面发展提出的新要求。随着改革的深化,学习型政府逐渐成为我国政府改革的方向。公务员是政府机关中集合人才的重要组成部分,加强公务员队伍学习能力,提高公务员队伍的执政能力是创建学习型政府中关键的一环。     

The cooperative extension service: A model for technology transfer

Since its inception in 1914, the Cooperative Extension Service has been delivering technology effectively to the agricultural community. The history of CES is discussed briefly, and the program's success, in terms of visibility, usage, and economic impact, is documented. Although the extension model has not been applied widely in industries outside of agriculture, some states have experimented with technology-transfer programs fashioned after CES. It is argued that these programs have not acquired the critical mass of resources needed to make them truly effective, and, unless they gain additional support, they should expand their services to increase their value and assess fees for assistance rendered. Gregory D. McFall was, during preparation of this paper, an undergraduate research fellow, majoring in physics, mathematics, and philosophy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He currently is doing graduate work at VPI & SU.     

东城区餐饮服务业管理现状及对策分析

通过对辖区内餐饮服务业态现状分析,针对性地进行对策研究,推动辖区内餐饮服务业的依法监管和规范发展。结合工作实际,分析餐饮服务业态分布、管理现状和存在问题,提出意见和建议。加强卫生监督中的关键环节控制,强化从业人员培训,进一步推行量化分级管理,加大处罚力度。充分发挥行业自律、社区自治与卫生监督执法相结合的作用,细化政策环境与监管职责,进一步探讨综合执法与卫生监督双赢模式建立。     

The jigsaw puzzle identification of a hit-and-run automobile

A suspected automobile was identified in a hit-and-run death of a 40-year-old male by matching a tiny nonspecific fragment of tissue attached to the gasoline line clip of the undercarriage with an avulsed area on the hypothenar area of the palm of the hand. There was no ostensible damage to the auto and there was an absence of clothing remnants, blood, and other tissues and an absence of paint pigments on the victim or victim's clothing.     

The entrepreneurial puzzle: explaining the gender gap

We document the substantial gender gap that exists among university scientists with regard to entrepreneurial activity using a variety of measures and explore factors leading to the disparity. We focus particularly on the biomedical sciences. The contextual explanation that women are under-represented in the types of positions from which faculty typically launch entrepreneurial activity is the most obvious. But the data suggest that for the biomedical sciences context is not sufficient in explaining the entrepreneurial gap. We look elsewhere to factors affecting supply and factors affecting demand. The former include gender differences in attitudes towards risk, competition, “selling” of “science,” type of research and geographic location. The latter include the role of networks, preferences of venture capitalists and “gender discounting.” We explore the associated hypotheses. We provide few tests and conclude that the research agenda is wide open and interesting.

公共服务型政府与公共服务的有效供给

我国公共服务型政府是指在遵从宪政民主秩序大框架下,以公民本位、社会本位理念为指导,通过法定程序,按照公民意志组建起来,以为公民服务为宗旨,实现着规制与服务功能的政府。有效公共服务供给的十二大模式为:政府服务、政府出售、政府间协议、特许经营、政府合同外包、政府内部市场、补助、凭单、用者付费制、自由市场、志愿服务、自我服务。实现有效公共服务供给的六大前提是:宪政、行政区划重构、利益集团的培育、独立的司法体系、完善的产权保护制度、取消户籍制度。     

Role orientations of junior British MPs: A test of Searing's categories with emphasis on constituency activities

Based on interviews with 45 junior British MPs in 1995, a factor analysis is used to test the staying power of the role categories found by Donald Searing in his study Westminster's World, based on 1972–73 interviews. Searing's categories Policy Advocate and Ministerial Aspirant are clearly identified by the factor pattern, as are two sub‐types of his Constituency Member: Welfare Officer and Local Promoter. Two additional factors emerged, indicating orientation of some MPs toward Local Media and Local Party. Regression analysis testing behavioural consequences of the role types (identified as independent variables based on factor scores) produced more mixed results than Searing's original tests, including the unexpected finding that MPs who find the Local Party helpful spend more time in their constituencies and in their surgeries with constituents than do Welfare Officers.     

The national criminal justice reference service

The function and services of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service of the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (Department of Justice, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration) are delineated. Instructions for use of the reference system are included.     

Disclosure in the EEA securities markets--making sense of the puzzle

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• This article looks at the various elements of thedisclosure regimes for issuers that are admitted to EEA-regulatedmarkets, including the initial requirement for the productionof a prospectus on admission and on-going requirements to discloseprice sensitive information as it arises and to make regularreports to the market.
• After a brief analysis of some of thesimilarities and differences between the various regimes, thearticle makes an attempt to reconcile the differences by lookingat each regime in the context of the others and viewing themas a continuum.
• Finally, remaining problems concerning multi-jurisdictionliability for disclosure in the EEA and potential liabilityfor forward-looking disclosure are discussed.