An analysis of the relationship between the additionality of CDM projects and their contribution to sustainable development

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows industrialised countries to use credits from greenhouse gas abatement projects in developing countries in order to fulfil their own emission reduction commitments. There has been mounting evidence that the CDM’s ability to fulfil its goals as stipulated by the Kyoto Protocol—contributing to the sustainable development of the host countries and delivering real, measurable and additional emission reductions—is less than satisfactory. In this article, an evaluation is made of CDM projects’ likelihood of being additional by assessing the impact Certified Emission Reductions have on the Internal Rate of Return of the individual projects. In addition, the projects’ sustainable development benefits are assessed by using a multi-criteria analysis. In a final step, the relationship between the projects’ additionality and sustainability contribution is assessed and a trade-off between these two CDM goals is established, revealing a potential inherent conflict in how the current mechanism works. The analysis is based on a systematic evaluation of 40 registered CDM projects in India.     

Accurate STR allele designations at the FGA and vWA loci despite primer site polymorphisms

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based STR DNA typing systems are used extensively in the field of human identification. Under optimal PCR conditions, the amplicon yield from both alleles of an STR locus is expected to be approximately equivalent. However, it is reasonable to expect that rare genomic sequence polymorphisms will co-localize with well-designed primer sets and induce allele imbalance or "dropouts". Two samples were identified in the course of genotyping thousands of individuals with AmpF/STR Profiler Plus that showed strong disparity in amplitude peak height of heterozygous peaks at the loci vWA and FGA. These samples were reamplified at reduced annealing temperature in an attempt to balance the peak heights. Nucleotide sequencing documented polymorphisms at the PCR primer binding sites of the affected alleles. The results indicate that reducing the annealing temperature to improve primer-binding efficiency at the mismatch and employing an alternative multiplex enhanced the data from both samples. Reducing annealing temperatures could provide a simple general solution to improving data quality for samples where polymorphisms are suspected to cause allele imbalance. Finally, we report on additional polymorphisms surrounding the vWA locus in a genetically diverse population.     

Plastic face reconstruction as a possibility for identifying unknown skulls (II). An evaluation of the reliability of the reconstruction technic by a double-blind trial

In a double blind-trial two examiners reconstructed the soft tissue on lifelike casts of 12 skulls. They worked independently after having been given information about age, sex and constitution of the person in question and following a reconstruction plan based on the morphology of the skull. The comparison of the completed reconstruction with each other chiefly showed approximate to far-reaching degrees of resemblance and conformity. The comparison of reconstructions and photographs of the individuals also showed predominantly approximate to far-reaching likeness of the general impression, and, with one exception, at least little likeness was achieved. The reconstruction of soft tissue on the skull proved to be a relatively useful method of identifying unknown skulls, provided information on the colour and length of the hair, and possibly on the hairstyle as well, is at the examiner's disposal.     

Gender-specific pathways to intimacy in early adolescence

As part of a larger longitudinal study of psychosocial development, 148 girls and 130 boys were administered a series of questions regarding a close friend during their eighth-grade school year. Scales corresponding to shared experience, self-disclosure, and intimacy (defined as emotional closeness) were developed from these items. Path-analytic models tested the relative strength of the self-disclosure and shared experience paths to emotional closeness for boys and girls separately. The results indicated that the self-disclosure path to emotional closeness is significant for both boys and girls. No relationship was found between shared experience and emotional closeness in girls when controlling for self-disclosure. The relationship between shared experience and feelings of closeness was, however, significant for boys even while controlling for the effects of self-disclosure. Covariance structure analysis (LISREL) indicated that the covariance matrices for the three scales were significantly different for boys and girls. The results are considered in relation to the gender socialization and friendship literature. The potential importance of defining intimacy as emotional closeness is also discussed.The research reported here was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH30252/38142 to Anne C. Petersen.Research interests include the development of the self-sytem and close relationships during adolescence and young adulthood.Research interests include adolescent mental health and parent and peer relationships.Received Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1973. Research interest is biopsychosocial development in adolescence, with a focus on sex differences in mental health.     

Measurement of the psychological well-being of adolescents: The psychometric properties and assessment procedures of the how I feel

The assessment procedures and psychometric properties of the How I Feel (HIF), an instrument used to assess psychological well-being in a population of Black adolescents are described. The audiovisual mode of presentation obviates problems related to reading skill; in addition, it standardizes the administration of the instrument. The How I Feel appears to measure reliably and validly several multi-item constructs representing psychological well-being. These constructs relate to other instruments and constructs in meaningful and interesting ways. A major result of our validity studies is that there appear to be two major components of psychological well-being, psychopathology and self-esteem.Research presented in this paper is from the Social Psychiatry Study Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago and was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA-00787).Received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Main research interests are biopsychosocial development in adolescence, especially for girls, and applications of statistical and psychometric methods to problems in longitudinal research.Received his M.D. from University of Maryland. His psychiatric residency and research training was at Yale University and National Institute of Mental Health. Main research interests are long-term studies of social adaptation, psychological well-being (including psychopathology), and social structure and processes of the family and other social fields such as the psychiatric ward.     

Citizens' Blame of Politicians for Public Service Failure: Experimental Evidence about Blame Reduction through Delegation and Contracting

Theories of blame suggest that contracting out public service delivery reduces citizens’ blame of politicians for service failure. The authors use an online experiment with 1,000 citizen participants to estimate the effects of information cues summarizing service delivery arrangements on citizens’ blame of English local government politicians for poor street maintenance. Participants were randomized to one of four cues: no information about service delivery arrangements, politicians’ involvement in managing delivery, delegation to a unit inside government managing delivery, and delegation through a contract with a private firm managing delivery. The politicians managing delivery cue raises blame compared to citizens having no information. However, the contract with a private firm cue does not reduce blame compared to either no information or the politicians managing delivery cue. Instead, the delegation to a unit inside government cue reduces blame compared to politicians managing delivery, suggesting that delegation to public managers, not contracting, reduces blame in this context.