Policy learning and change during crisis: COVID-19 policy responses across six states

Whereas policy change is often characterized as a gradual and incremental process, effective crisis response necessitates that organizations adapt to evolving problems in near real time. Nowhere is this dynamic more evident than in the case of COVID-19, which forced subnational governments to constantly adjust and recalibrate public health and disease mitigation measures in the face of changing patterns of viral transmission and the emergence of new information. This study assesses (a) the extent to which subnational policies changed over the course of the pandemic; (b) whether these changes are emblematic of policy learning; and (c) the drivers of these changes, namely changing political and public health conditions. Using a novel dataset analyzing each policy's content, including its timing of enactment, substantive focus, stringency, and similar variables, results indicate the pandemic response varied significantly across states. The states examined were responsive to both changing public health and political conditions. This study identifies patterns of preemptive policy learning, which denotes learning in anticipation of an emerging hazard. In doing so, the study provides important insights into the dynamics of policy learning and change during disaster.     

Perspectives from the Senior Executive Service

Much of the research and scholarship on public administration relies heavily on an ‘outsider’ perspective. There is very little ‘insider’ discussion on the priorities, concerns and personal constructs which influence senior executives’ careers. This small qualitative study captures the perspectives of members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) within Australian public sector agencies and identifies key issues for them as senior executives.     

Relationships Between Identity and Self-Representations During Adolescence

By drawing from literature on identity development as well as on self-discrepancy, the present study aimed to investigate variations in the magnitude of self-belief discrepancies among adolescents with different levels of identity development. The respondents consisted of 336 male and female adolescents, from 5 private secondary schools, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years (M = 15.98, SD = 0.89). Four levels of identity status (Achieved, Moratorium, Foreclosed, and Diffused identity status) were used as the method of identity classification in this study. Four types of self-discrepancies (Actual/Ideal (own), Actual/Ideal (other), Actual/Ought (own), and Actual/Ought (other) self-discrepancy) were also obtained. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that respondents with different identity statuses significantly varied on the magnitude of self-discrepancy experienced. The Foreclosed and Achieved statuses were found to have lower levels of self-belief discrepancy than the Moratorium and Diffused statuses. However, most of the significant differences among the statuses were for the Actual/Ideal (own) and Actual/Ideal (other) self-discrepancies. These results indicate that identity development is related to the magnitude of self-belief discrepancy. However, further research with more developed instruments is needed to explore this relationship more fully.     

The application of anodic stripping voltammetry to forensic science I. The construction of a low-cost polarograph

Intended for forensic gunshot residue analyses and other applications, a low-cost (about $250.00) polarograph was constructed. This instrument is essentially' an operational amplifier version of a three-electrode potentiostat containing a voltage ramp generator, a scan amplifier, an amplifier and a current-to-voltage converter, two voltage followers and an electrolysis cell. An anodic stripping procedure was developed for the simultaneous determination of a zinc, cadmium, lead, antimony and copper mixture, and used for testing the instrument. Effects of pre-electrolysis time, concentration changes, presence of other species and overlapping were also studied.     

The Intention Debate in German Criminal Law

Abstract.  This article considers the various suggestions that have been put forward by German scholars to replace the traditional concept of intention, which the author has criticised elsewhere ( Taylor 2004 ). The debate on this topic has become a minor academic industry in Germany, and should be better known as the English-speaking world struggles with its own concepts of intention. Despite the great amount of effort and ingenuity devoted to this topic in Germany, however, the author concludes that only one theory of intention, that put forward by Professor Wolfgang Frisch, shows any substantial degree of promise.