Measuring unnecessary delay in administrative proceedings: The actual versus the predicted

This article discusses various ways of systematically measuring the time one would expect various administrative proceedings to consume relative to the time they actually consume taking into consideration the diverse complexity of such proceedings. The article uses the problem of administrative delay to illustrate the broader problem of creating a dependent criterion variable that measures the gap between the actual, empirical, or real situation on the one hand and the predicted, normative, or ideal situation on the other.Thanks are owed to the following who played a part in the preparation of this article but who are not responsible for the results: (1) the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure for which the author was an assistant counsel when he conducted the research; (2) the Yale Law School-Russell Sage Program in which the author was a Law and Social Science Fellow when he wrote the article; (3) the 1971 Conference on Measuring Public Policy Impact at Florida State University where the article was initially presented; and (4) the National Science Foundation which partly financed the writing under grant GS-2875 as one of a series of policy science studies on measuring and achieving effects of alternative legal policies.     

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LIFE-SAFETY: THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES AND "HAZARDOUS-STRUCTURE ABATEMENT," 1973–1981

The life-safety threat posed by earthquake-vulnerable buildings is widely recognized. This paper outlines the long battle fought in the City of Los Angeles to enact an ordinance intended to abate the hazard. The author also offers a series of both necessary and sufficient factors explaining Los Angelesl ultimate success.     

The effect of soil type on adipocere formation

Adipocere refers to a postmortem product which forms from body fat in the later stages of decomposition. Factors present in the surrounding decomposition environment will influence adipocere formation and may accelerate or retard the process of conversion. One such factor important in burial environments is the type of grave soil in which the burial has taken place. This study was conducted to investigate the influence of various soil types on the formation of adipocere in grave soils. X-ray diffraction and particle size analysis were used to characterise the soils which were essentially chosen on the basis of grain size. Infrared spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to investigate the lipid profile and chemical composition of adipocere developed from decomposing tissue. The results suggest that adipocere is able to form in various soil types and that particular soil environments may accelerate its formation.     

Characterization of adipocere formation in animal species

Adipocere is a soft white substance formed postmortem from fatty tissue in a decomposing body. In this preliminary study the formation of adipocere in soil was investigated for a number of animal species. Adipocere was formed from the fatty tissue of pig, cattle, sheep and rabbit. It was found that adipocere did not form from the fatty tissue of chicken or kangaroo in the time frame investigated. The issues being considered are relevant to the forensic examination of remains whose origin is otherwise uncertain or which are, in some way, related to human remains. Infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to characterise the composition of adipocere formed in the various species after different burial durations. Adipocere was observed to form at different rates among the species, but there was no distinct evidence of the fundamental composition varying between species.