THE DETERMINATION OF ANTITRUST LIABILITY IN UNITED STATES v. MICROSOFT: THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE USED TO PROVE ITS CASE

This paper considers the empirical evidence used by the Departmentof Justice in the U.S. v. Microsoft antitrust case to provethat Microsoft engaged in exclusionary (and anticompetitive)actions in the browser market as part of its efforts to maintainits dominance of the personal computer operating system market.This evidence deserves special consideration because the DistrictCourt made the unusual decision to rely on the empirical evidencepresented by the Department of Justice rather than the empiricalevidence presented by Microsoft. This decision was unusual becauseMicrosoft's evidence had a strong presumption of validity asit was based on data that Microsoft collected and used in theordinary course of its business. Furthermore, no market participantsused the Department of Justice-sponsored data in any meaningfulway. Although it is impossible to determine with any certaintywhy the District Court ruled the way it did, I conclude thatthere were two driving forces in the court's decision. The Departmentof Justice identified serious flaws in Microsoft's data, makingit unreliable for the purposes for which Microsoft was usingit in the trial. The Department of Justice was also able toshow that no such flaws affected the data it sponsored and indeed,on many points, that data was more consistent with the testimonyof Microsoft executives than the data sponsored by Microsoft.     

Exploring FDR'S relationship with the press: A historical agenda‐setting study

This historical agenda‐setting study examined the extent to which Franklin Roosevelt's issue agenda, as expressed in his first seven State of the Union speeches, correlated with subsequent coverage in seven major newspapers and the degree to which newspaper coverage correlated with FDR's issue agenda. While past works have emphasized Roosevelt's ability to influence media coverage, this study suggests that Roosevelt reacted to previous coverage more than he influenced subsequent coverage. Past researchers contend that Roosevelt's strong support early in his first term deteriorated subsequently. By contrast, our study found stronger correlations between FDR's issue agenda and subsequent coverage later in his presidency. FDR reacted to, rather than influenced, coverage in newspapers he read and influenced coverage in newspapers he did not read. Roosevelt's issue agenda posted stronger correlations for the papers that supported him than those that opposed him. This study suggests, then, that historical conditions, amount of exposure to the newspaper, and political leanings of the newspaper are contingent conditions influencing the agenda‐setting process and should be considered in future agenda‐setting studies.     

Legislative Recruitment and Models of Party Organisation: Evidence from Australia

This paper considers the relationship between the growing dominance of career politicians in the Australian federal legislature and models of party organisation. Using data on MPs in the Australian federal parliament, this study maps changes in models of party organisation to the occupational profiles of MPs between 1949 and 2007. The findings show a correspondence between the phenomenon of cartelisation and the appearance of legislators whose previous occupation was in the political sphere. The authors suggest that there is a relationship between different modes of party organisation and both the supply of candidates and the demand-side factors influencing party selectors. The paper concludes that theories of recruitment should include a greater emphasis on models of party organisation to explain better the uniformity of recruitment outcomes across advanced democracies.     

Interpreting results of ethanol analysis in postmortem specimens: a review of the literature

We searched the scientific literature for articles dealing with postmortem aspects of ethanol and problems associated with making a correct interpretation of the results. A person's blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) and state of inebriation at the time of death is not always easy to establish owing to various postmortem artifacts. The possibility of alcohol being produced in the body after death, e.g. via microbial contamination and fermentation is a recurring issue in routine casework. If ethanol remains unabsorbed in the stomach at the time of death, this raises the possibility of continued local diffusion into surrounding tissues and central blood after death. Skull trauma often renders a person unconscious for several hours before death, during which time the BAC continues to decrease owing to metabolism in the liver. Under these circumstances blood from an intracerebral or subdural clot is a useful specimen for determination of ethanol. Bodies recovered from water are particular problematic to deal with owing to possible dilution of body fluids, decomposition, and enhanced risk of microbial synthesis of ethanol. The relationship between blood and urine-ethanol concentrations has been extensively investigated in autopsy specimens and the urine/blood concentration ratio might give a clue about the stage of alcohol absorption and distribution at the time of death. Owing to extensive abdominal trauma in aviation disasters (e.g. rupture of the viscera), interpretation of BAC in autopsy specimens from the pilot and crew is highly contentious and great care is needed to reach valid conclusions. Vitreous humor is strongly recommended as a body fluid for determination of ethanol in postmortem toxicology to help establish whether the deceased had consumed ethanol before death. Less common autopsy specimens submitted for analysis include bile, bone marrow, brain, testicle, muscle tissue, liver, synovial and cerebrospinal fluids. Some investigators recommend measuring the water content of autopsy blood and if necessary correcting the concentration of ethanol to a mean value of 80% w/w, which corresponds to fresh whole blood. Alcoholics often die at home with zero or low BAC and nothing more remarkable at autopsy than a fatty liver. Increasing evidence suggests that such deaths might be caused by a pronounced ketoacidosis. Recent research has focused on developing various biochemical tests or markers of postmortem synthesis of ethanol. These include the urinary metabolites of serotonin and non-oxidative metabolites of ethanol, such as ethyl glucuronide, phosphatidylethanol and fatty acid ethyl esters. This literature review will hopefully be a good starting point for those who are contemplating a fresh investigation into some aspect of postmortem alcohol analysis and toxicology.