ADOPTING PERSONNEL PRODUCTIVITY INNOVATIONS IN AMERICAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Improving the productivity of public employees has increasingly attracted the attention of urban policymakers and administrators concerned about the quality, cost, and efficiency of governmental service delivery. A national survey of local personnel managers was undertaken to ascertain the degree of jurisdictional receptivity to personnel-based management tools, preferred approaches, and the most serious policy and institutional barriers to the implementation of these changes. Research findings concerning the adoption of personnel reforms are generally consistent with those reported in prior studies except for an increase in the utilization of job enrichment techniques by local administrators. The reluctance of labor organizations to accept productivity bargaining and the unwillingness of local authorities to consider financial incentive plans for governmental executives are cited b y our respondents as the chief obstacles to greater managerial effectiveness.     

Associations of dating violence victimization with lifetime participation, co-occurrence, and early initiation of risk behaviors among U.S. high school students

This study examined the association of victimization in a physically violent dating relationship with risk behaviors, age of risk behavior initiation, and co-occurrence of risk behaviors among students in grades 9 through 12 in the United States. Data were from the 2003 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Nearly 9% of students reported experiencing dating violence victimization. Dating violence victimization was associated with alcohol use, marijuana use, and having ever had sexual intercourse among female students and having ever had sexual intercourse among male students. Dating violence victimization also was associated with early initiation of alcohol use among female students. The odds of dating violence victimization increased as the number of risk behaviors increased and as the number of lifetime sexual partners increased. These risk behavior patterns should serve as warning signs of elevated risk for dating violence victimization and may be helpful in identifying adolescents who could benefit from targeted, preventive interventions.     

A validated method for the analysis of cannabinoids in post-mortem blood using liquid-liquid extraction and two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Phenazepam is a long-acting benzodiazepine that, unlike other benzodiazepines, is currently not scheduled as a narcotic in Finland, most other European countries or the USA. It is used as an anxiolytic, sedative-hypnotic and anti-epileptic, mainly in Russia. In Finland, as well as in some other countries, an increase in the unauthorized use of phenazepam has been observed in recent years. In the one year period between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011 the prevalence of phenazepam in Finland was assessed among drivers apprehended for driving under the influence of drugs (DUID), in medico-legal autopsy cases and in police confiscations of illicit drugs. In DUID cases an LC-MS/MS method preceded by solid phase extraction was used for the determination of phenazepam. In the post-mortem investigations the sample preparation consisted of liquid-liquid extraction followed by derivatization and the determination was carried out by GC-MS. The police confiscations were analysed by GC-MS. There were 141 positive phenazepam cases among apprehended drivers, representing approximately 3.5% of all confirmed drug cases (n=4007) in this time period. The median (range) phenazepam blood concentration in DUID cases was 0.061 mg/L (0.004-3.600 mg/L). The median phenazepam concentration in cases with no concomitant stimulant use was significantly higher than the overall median concentration. Phenazepam was found in 17 medico-legal autopsy cases and the median (range) blood concentration was 0.048 mg/L (0.007-1.600 mg/L). Phenazepam was not considered by the medico-legal team to be the sole cause of death in any of the cases, the majority of them being accidental opiod overdoses. There were 26 seizures of phenazepam by the Police in the time period studied, some of the batches consisted of a mixture of phenazepam and stimulant designer drugs. The data show that phenazepam abuse is a widespread phenomenon in Finland. A typical user was a male multi-drug user in his 30s. The concentration range of phenazepam among apprehended drivers and medico-legal autopsy cases was wide and the drug was usually found along with other psychoactive drugs. Therefore, although it seems likely that phenazepam contributed to impairment of driving in some DUID cases, the extent of its effect remains unclear and further studies are needed to define the concentrations causing impairment and toxicity.     

An Empirical Study of Patent Grant Rates as a Function of Race and Gender

In this article we examine the rate at which patent applications are granted as a function of the inventor's race and gender. Empirical analysis of more than 3.9 million U.S. applications finds minority and women applicants are significantly less likely to secure a patent relative to the balance of inventors. Further analysis indicates that a portion of this bias is introduced during prosecution at the Patent Office, independent of the quality of the application. Mechanisms underlying these disparities are explored. The article concludes with a discussion of our results and their interaction with patent law, innovation policy, and employment trends.     

Antiforeigner Resentment as a Manifestation of Xhosa Hegemonic Masculinity

Abstract

During a xenophobia and social cohesion research project conducted by the Safety and Violence Initiative (SaVI) of the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Freedom House USA, researchers found an overwhelming perception that foreign nationals were taking things that belong to South Africans. This perception was most prevalent in the male population, and antiforeigner resentment was mainly aimed toward male foreign nationals. This paper uses ethnographic research in the form of qualitative interviews from Motherwell and Makhanda in the Eastern Cape province to find out how constructions of hegemonic masculinities at the local level contribute to antiforeigner resentment.