Political Identity,Public Memory and Urban Space: A Case Study of Parcul Carol I,Bucharest from 1906 to the Present

This article analyses the inter-relationship between political identity, public memory and urban space in South-east Europe through a case study of Parcul Carol I (Carol I Park) in Bucharest, Romania from 1906 to the present. The article analyses how the urban cultural landscape has been reshaped to support the political ambitions of three successive regimes—Romania as a kingdom and liberal constitutional monarchy (1881–1938); state-socialist Romania (1947–1989); and the post-socialist Romanian state from 1989. The article highlights complex continuity from the state-socialist period under post-socialism, rather than destruction of the landscape of state-socialism, combined with the return of pre-socialist landscape elements. The article argues for the need for studies of the fate of state-socialist urban landscapes under post-socialism which consider the complexities introduced by the persistence of landscape elements from the pre-socialist and state-socialist periods and their combination with pre-socialist and post-socialist landscapes to produce hybrid memory-scapes and spaces of the nation.     

Expertise in Fingerprint Identification

Although fingerprint experts have presented evidence in criminal courts for more than a century, there have been few scientific investigations of the human capacity to discriminate these patterns. A recent latent print matching experiment shows that qualified, court‐practicing fingerprint experts are exceedingly accurate (and more conservative) compared with novices, but they do make errors. Here, a rationale for the design of this experiment is provided. We argue that fidelity, generalizability, and control must be balanced to answer important research questions; that the proficiency and competence of fingerprint examiners are best determined when experiments include highly similar print pairs, in a signal detection paradigm, where the ground truth is known; and that inferring from this experiment the statement “The error rate of fingerprint identification is 0.68%” would be unjustified. In closing, the ramifications of these findings for the future psychological study of forensic expertise and the implications for expert testimony and public policy are considered.     

The Macroeconomic Effects of 2017 Through 2025 Federal Fuel Economy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards

In the absence of a national carbon price, the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards and the related greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) standards are the primary mechanisms through which the U.S. reduces transportation GHG emissions. In 2012, these standards were set to rise for light‐duty vehicles between 2017 and 2025, eventually achieving a target of 54.5 miles per gallon in 2025. Since 2012, conditions have changed: forecasts of future gasoline prices have dropped dramatically, consumers have demanded larger vehicles, and the cost of compliance appears to be larger than previously thought. In this article, we analyze the possible macroeconomic effects of the standards with both 2012 inputs and updated inputs to reflect these new market developments. The results reveal that the short‐term effects of the federal standards will be negative, but the long‐term effects will be positive, using both 2012 and updated inputs. The transition from annual negative employment impacts to positive impacts occurs between 2023 and 2026, depending on which set of assumptions are used. Possible revisions to the standards that freeze them at 2020 levels or decrease their stringency reduce short‐term negative impacts but also reduce long‐term positive impacts. We conclude with a discussion of policy implications as they relate to the current energy and climate policy conditions.     

Raman Microspectroscopic Mapping: A Tool for Identification of Fused Materials in Fire Debris

Examination of fire debris can provide information about the types of materials which were present at the time of the fire to give insights for fire scene reconstruction and understanding compartment fire dynamics. This paper demonstrates the ability of Raman spectroscopy for material identification postfire in complex situations, such as the production of fused masses during fire dropdown. A validated Raman spectral library is combined with Raman mapping in three fire case studies, to determine the individual materials in the fused masses formed. The case studies accessed material combinations of several common polymers. Raman mapping was carried out on a 10 μm × 10 μm square of the masses. Material identification using this technique ranged from a high of 85% match to a low of 40% match. This work demonstrated that complex masses found in the fire debris can be resolved into the individual material components for identification and spatial distribution.     

Pumpkin Pies and Public Goods: The Raffle Fundraising Strategy

Charitable organizations, such as schools and churches, oftenuse raffles to raise money. This article explores the economicincentives inherent in raffle fundraisers. Raffling off aprize is compared to simply asking for voluntary contributions(i.e., a raffle without a prize). Even if every contributor isrisk-averse, offering a prize can increase contributions to apublic good by more than the value of the prize. Thus, tyingcontributions to a raffle can increase the equilibrium supplyof a public good. Moreover, there exists a raffle prize thatmaximizes the supply of public good over other prizes.     

The Comparative Survey of Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions

The article describes the Comparative Survey of Freedom, produced from 1975 to 1989 in article form, and from 1978 to 1989 in book form as well. The survey rates annually all independent states and dependent territories. It is a loose, intuitive rating system for levels of freedom or democracy, as defined by the traditional political rights and civil liberties of the Western democracies. The checklists used for political rights and civil liberties are discussed point by point. Although open to criticism, the ratings are quite similar to those produced by other analysts from different perspectives during this time period., Unlike other studies, the survey's regular production provides a useful and consistent time series. Democracy is a moving target. Extensions of the survey in, time or levels of discrimination would force the investigator to address a variety of new and difficult problems in comparability that are not faced by the survey in its present form. After receiving a degree in social science and Middle Eastern, Studies at Harvard University, Dr. Gastil taught anthropology and honors social science at the University of Oregon, For seven years he analyzed national security and other policy issues at Hudson Institute. Basic research at Battelle Seattle Research Center led to the publication ofCultural Regions of the United States, andSocial Humanities.: Toward an Integrative Discipline of Science and Values, as well as numerous scholarly articles. From 1977 to 1989, Dr. Gastil was director of the Comparative Survey of Freedom at Freedom House. In this capacity he wrote and produced an annual yearbook entitledFreedom in the World: Political Rights and Civil Liberties, and held conferences on supporting liberalization in the Soviet Union, Muslim Central Asia, China, and Eastern Europe, as well as on the problem of political participatin, in the United States.     

Workplace violence: an overview of patterns of risk and the emotional/stress consequences on targets

Violence at work (VAW) is a frequent precursor to mental ill health, and to a lesser degree physical injury, among those exposed to this occupational hazard. In this paper an overview is provided of the nature and prevalence of such violence, of the risk factors involved, and of the impact upon victims. The paper examines the definition of VAW which includes both physical and psychological violence. Attention is given to the influential involvement of the UN affiliated International Labour Organisation in setting benchmarks for defining, preventing and responding to VAW. Evidence about the incidence and severity of VAW on a global basis is examined. It is noted that the reliability of information about VAW is quite variable, especially in non-industrialised countries. The available evidence indicates that psychological aggression is widespread across all sectors of employment and physical violence, although far less common, remains a significant problem. Risks of becoming a victim of VAW vary according to numbers of factors including job category, the nature of the work being performed, gender, age and experience. The paper also focuses on research regarding the effects upon persons experiencing or witnessing VAW. This research indicates that the health related consequences of psychological violence can be as severe as those from physical violence. The paper concludes that VAW is a major occupational health and safety hazard in all nations, regardless of their state of development. A reduction or elimination of this violence, and the health problems it creates, requires concerted and integrated strategies, together with rigorous evaluation of preventive measures.     

The Aarhus convention and process cosmopolitanism

The convention on access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters (Aarhus) celebrates its twentieth birthday in 2018, yet its ethical potential remains unexamined. This paper assesses its ethical potential via the ethico-normative lens of the English School of international relations, eliciting the degree of pluralism and solidarism evident. It first presents pluralism and solidarism as ideal types against which research objects are assessed. Second, it analyses Aarhus’ trinity of procedural rights, identifying solidarist potential whilst noting pluralist realities. Third, it casts Aarhus as exemplifying a nascent process cosmopolitanism, rendering sovereignty more responsible by enriching it with humanity, which here denotes a rudimentary sense of affinity between humans, irrespective of territorial identities, based on the rights shared by, and duties towards, one another. The paper concludes that Aarhus demonstrates the presence of, and contributes to, a solidarist international society, delineated by convention membership. If weaker cosmopolitanism accords equal concern to humans and stronger cosmopolitanism requires equal treatment, Aarhus demonstrates the feasibility of a stronger cosmopolitanism emerging in international environmental politics. Chiefly, Aarhus seeks to reduce imposed harm, suffered by humans who lack the knowledge and autonomy to influence decisions that affect them. Such headway is tentative, but this is welcomed as evolutionary reform coheres with the persistence of sovereign statehood. Aarhus’ cosmopolitanism, yielding a moderating influence on sovereignty, will not emerge without a stable framework in which states institutionalise it. International politics remains, but can be enriched by procedural approaches to foregrounding human rights, which states must accommodate to be deemed legitimate.