Principal Agent Theory and Artificial Information Asymmetry

This article evaluates the potential for the concept of 'artificial information asymmetry' to be used in political studies which focus on principal agent theory. We present real-world examples and excerpts from political writings to support our argument that, although artificial information asymmetry appears to be an important factor in principal agent relations, the concept has been underemployed in the political science agency literature. To be able to present more realistic scenarios of delegation, political scientists might be well advised to incorporate the concept so that it can be used in applied research.     

Promoting State-of-the-Art Methods in Public Management Research

The field of public management is methodologically underdeveloped as compared to other disciplines. In order to derive the fullest benefits of methodological advancements, the field needs to invest in discussing and deliberating over the state of the art in methodological advances. Using state-of-the-art methods helps to produce knowledge that is useful for scholars and practitioners. This symposium aims to add to and improve the methodological toolkit available to public management scholars. We distinguish three categories that could strengthen the methodological toolkit: underutilized methods (such as ethnography), innovations in current methods (such as the synthetic control method for comparative case studies), and novel methods (such as natural language processing for content analysis). We hope that this symposium encourages scholars to seek for novel and improved methods to produce research that lives up to scientific scrutiny and is valuable for practitioners.     

Developing and Testing an Integrative Framework for Open Government Adoption in Local Governments

Open government is an important innovation to foster trustworthy and inclusive governments. The authors develop and test an integrative theoretical framework drawing from theories on policy diffusion and innovation adoption. Based on this, they investigate how structural, cultural, and environmental variables explain three dimensions of open government: accessibility, transparency, and participation. The framework is tested by combining 2014 survey data and observational data from 500 local U.S. government websites. Organizational structure, including technological and organizational capacity, is a determinant shared by all dimensions of open government. Furthermore, accessibility is affected by a mixture of an innovative and participative culture and external pressures. A flexible and innovative culture positively relates to higher levels of transparency, whereas capacity is a strong predictor of adopting participatory features. The main conclusion is that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all solution to fostering the three dimensions of open government, as each dimension is subject to a unique combination of determinants.     

Position of superciliare in relation to the lateral iris: testing a suggested facial approximation guideline

It has been suggested in the literature that superciliare is located directly above the most lateral point of the iris and that this association may be of use in facial approximation. However, the relationship between the lateral iris and superciliare has not been tested and its accuracy remains unknown. This study aims to determine the accuracy of this relationship using metric and non-metric analysis. The horizontal distance from superciliare to the lateral iris was measured, using photogrammetric methods, in Australians of European extraction (27 males, 48 females), central/south-east Asian extraction (20 males, 19 females) and individuals from other population groups (7 males, 7 females). Results indicate that superciliare position is best approximated by the lateral iris in females. On average, superciliare fell lateral to the lateral iris by 4.8 mm, S.D. 3.4 mm in males, and 1.2 mm, S.D. 5.4mm in females. In approximately 70-80% of the sample, the superciliare fell between the exocanthion and the pupil center on both sides. It is suggested that the proposed guideline that the lateral iris is equal to superciliare is not very accurate, especially for males. Also the large standard deviations indicate that the position of superciliare is highly variable. The above measures should, on average, give a more accurate prediction of superciliare in contrast to the lateral iris border, and therefore, they should be used in facial approximation. However, the large variation in superciliare position should be acknowledged.     

The Impact of School Mental Health Services on Out-of-School Suspension Rates

The current study investigated whether the presence of school-based mental health clinicians in an urban school district was associated with reduced out-of-school suspension rates. Forty one elementary schools with expanded school mental health (ESMH) programs were compared to 41 schools without ESMH programs. Correlational analyses revealed associations between suspension outcomes and several school-level demographic variables including school attendance rate, percent of students in poverty, and percent of nonwhite students in the school. After controlling for these variables, however, results of stepwise linear regressions demonstrated no significant differences between ESMH and non-ESMH schools on suspension outcomes. Results of the current study suggest that the presence of ESMH clinicians will not necessarily impact suspension rates in an elementary school. Targeted and well-implemented approaches to address behaviors that lead to suspension, or school- and system-level policies to provide alternatives to suspensions, will likely be a better route to achieving this outcome.     

Facial soft tissue depths in craniofacial identification (part II): An analytical review of the published sub-adult data

Prior research indicates that while statistically significant differences exist between subcategories of the adult soft tissue depth data, magnitudes of difference are small and possess little practical meaning when measurement errors and variations between measurement methods are considered. These findings raise questions as to what variables may or may not hold meaning for the sub-adult data. Of primary interest is the effect of age, as these differences have the potential to surpass the magnitude of measurement error. Data from the five studies in the literature on sub-adults which describe values for single integer age groups were pooled and differences across the ages examined. From 1 to 18 years, most soft tissue depth measurements increased by less than 3 mm. These results suggest that dividing the data for children into more than two age groups is unlikely to hold many advantages. Data were therefore split into two groups with the division point corresponding to the mid-point of the observed trends and main data density (0-11 and 12-18 years; division point = 11.5 years). Published sub-adult data for seven further studies which reported broader age groups were pooled with the data above to produce the final tallied soft tissue depth tables. These tables hold the advantages of increased sample sizes (pogonion has greater than 1770 individuals for either age group) and increased levels of certainty (as random and opposing systematic errors specific to each independent study should average out when the data are combined).