Wildavsky on budget reform

A large part of the literature on budgeting in the United States is concerned with reform. The goals of proposed reforms are couched in similar language - economy, efficiency, improvement, or just better budgeting ... However, any effective change in budgetary relationships must necessarily alter the outcomes of the budgetary process. Otherwise, why bother? Far from being a neutral matter of better budgeting, proposed reforms inevitably contain important implications for the political system, that is, the who gets what of governmental decisions (Wildavsky, 1961: p. 186). ... budgeting is a subsystem of politics, not vise versa - because of the current tendency to overload budgeting. As much as I respect the importance of budgeting and the talents of budgeteers, to substitute budgeting for governing will not work (Wildavsky, 1992b: p. 439).     

The biggest contraceptive in the world

The indiscriminate promotion of infant formula in 3rd world countries frequently increases women's fertility as well as resulting in a direct risk to infants. The fertility effect of the decline of breastfeeding in the 3rd world over the last 30 years has only recently been examined. Preliminary study results show that it is not simply the presence or absence of breastfeeding which counts but the amount of suckling which takes place. Mothers who nurse often, on demand, return to fertility much later than those who do not feed at night, or who stick to regular, separate feeding intervals. The contraceptive effect of breastfeeding comes from the release of a hormone (prolactin) directly after stimulation of the nipples, which in 5-15 minutes increases almost 20 times its normal level in the bloodstream. Prolactin is short lived in the blood so that half of this quantity will have vanished 10-30 minutes after suckling stops; regular feeding is needed to keep the level sufficiently high to inhibit fertility. If a woman does ovulate, it may be what is termed and "inadequate ovulation" where the corpus luteum does not function normally and even if the egg is fertilized will not permit the pregnancy to continue. A study on this theme was conducted among the Kung people of northwestern Botswana where there was an unusually low natural fertility--about 4.7 live births/woman, well spaced out. The children were normally weaned at 3-years old, and daytime suckling followed an unusual pattern. It was very brief, a few seconds or minutes, and very frequent. Breastfeeding began to decline during the child's 2nd year and fertility shortly returned. The World Fertility Survey concludes that "on average, breastfeeding for 1 months adds 1 week to the birth interval." In countries like Colombia and Panama, which are heavily Westernized in the urban areas and where traditional cultures are largely eroded, aggressive Western provision and marketing of artificial contraceptives may just offset the aggressive Western marketing of breastmilk substitutes, as far as fertility is concerned. In other developing countries bottle feeding may have increased unwanted pregnancies.     

A rapid method for blood alcohol determination by headspace analysis using an electrochemical detector.

A method for the determination of blood alcohol concentration by headspace analysis using an electrochemical detector is described. A determination can be made within 2 min, and only 0.1 ml of blood is required for each analysis. The detector response was linearly related to ethanol concentrations up to 3.0 mg/ml. The standard deviation of a single determination was +/- 0.014 mg/ml. The accuracy of the method based on comparison with an enzymatic (alcohol dehydrogenase) technique was high, the mean recovery being 102.2% of the attributed concentration. The ease of the operation and fast analysis time make the method ideal for serial determinations, for example during mass screening of biological samples for ethyl alcohol in forensic and toxicology laboratories.     

Crimes of the powerful and beyond: An essay review

Conclusion I have argued that the problems withCrimes of the Powerful are instances of the inherent limitation of a criminology of the powerful and thus are not specific to a particular text, but refer centrally to a particular enterprise. These problems result from the contradictions entailed in the conjunction of criminology and political economy and the formal use of concepts derived from the latter as an explanation of, or gloss on, problems generated by the former. The formal introduction of the concepts of political economy does not, of itself, entail a break with the criminological agenda and, as a result, the analysis produced is inadequate to its object — the powerful. It is the position of this article that if one is to theorize upon either corporate crime or anti-trust law then political economy must assume priority — or else one simply establishes, as does Pearce, the criminality of big business. It is not the case that crime and law are irrelevant areas for political economy and, more especially Marxism, but rather that a proper understanding of the theoretical requirements necessary for an adequate analysis of corporate crime and anti-trust law must, of necessity, be founded in political economy, not criminology. Hitherto these requirements have not been met by criminology. This can be witnessed by the way in which criminology has addressed political economy, ie. in a purely arbitrary fashion in which concepts are simply adopted as if they were given — concepts which are effectively riddled with contradictions. Until these theoretical requirements are met, or built upon, then criminology is doomed to receive into itself a simple multiplication of texts likeCrimes of the Powerful together with all the consequent inadequacies associated with such texts. In such a context the powerful remains an ever elusive object     

Routes to Scholarly Success in Public Administration: Is There a Right Path?

The Successful Scholars Project examined the determinants of successful public administration scholars. We surveyed the top 89 public administration scholars alive today (nominated by leaders of five national organizations) and asked them to rank a set of characteristics and behaviors that may have helped them achieve their success. We then analyzed the curricula vitae of 63 of the scholars. This article reports our study's findings and the recommendations of our successful scholars. Scholars heralded good methodological training and quality mentoring as significant. For research, choosing important, cutting-edge issues to write about, not following fads, being oneself, and publishing quality works were touted as important. Presenting research at national conferences also was highly recommended (while chairing committees and serving as discussants were not). Most scholars recommended steering away from administrative positions and university politics. We conclude with lessons for budding public administration scholars as well as lessons for designing public administration doctoral programs.     

Dynamics of stab wounds: force required for penetration of various cadaveric human tissues

It is often said that once the skin has been penetrated no further force is required to produce penetration of underlying tissues. This experimental study has used technology which was not available to earlier investigators to examine this issue in detail. The results confirm the importance of skin penetration but indicate that the penetration of other tissues may also require significant force.     

From Status Politics to Technocratic Pluralism: Toleration of Religious Minorities in Canada

This paper examines patterns of public regulation as they may emerge throughout the West from controversies constructed around new and minority religions. Following Beckford's and Richardson's insights about the sociological exemplarity of these issues, we argue that evidence for some of these trends as well as clues for interpretation can be found in contemporary Canadian constitutional development that parallels and at times precedes that of Europe. Close examination of notions of society and religion found in more than 35 religion cases brought before the Canadian Supreme Court from 1951 to 1997 lead to the conclusion that beside governmental and parliamentary intervention, legal management of religious pluralism is assuming a decisively normative turn. Notions such as status politics, civic ethos, and technocratic pluralism are offered as an explanation of this trend.